A report released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IREA) highlighted that half of all Pakistani village still lack electricity and recommended that Pakistan needed to fully exploit its indigenous renewable energy resources to improve energy security and overcome the crippling power crisis in the country.
The study that was prepared in collaboration with the government found that the fast-rising share of imported fossil fuels in power generation risked undermining the long-term energy security of the country.
The research also highlighted the need for Islamabad to shift focus in renewable energy away from hydro-power and towards the tremendous potential for growth in solar, wind and biomass solutions for power generation.
According to IREA, half of the total rural population in the country still did not have access to electricity, and the import of fossil fuels was rising as domestic production of oil and gas was slowing down.
“As the country reels from the impact of prospective financial sanctions over a perceived lack of action against militants, a rapidly increasing population, coupled with inadequate investments in power sector infrastructure, will likely impact the social and economic development of the country negatively,” the report said.
The study also provided a comprehensive overview of the energy sector in Pakistan and outlined several recommendations to streamline power management reform, improve regulatory frameworks and to push for more informed policymaking.
The report said that Pakistan currently relied on natural gas, oil, hydro-power, coal and nuclear energy for the bulk of its energy needs. Natural gas supplied 43 per cent of the total primary energy supplies in Pakistan, oil accounted for a 36 per cent share in national power generation, hydro-power contributed 11 per cent, coal contributed 7 per cent and nuclear power contributed some 2 per cent of the country’s total energy needs.
The report underlined that natural gas had played a key role in power generation inside Pakistan for decades, but as reserves of the natural resource were rapidly dwindling, the country had witnessed no marked increase in production and supply of natural gas over the last ten years. A lull in domestic production had been identified as the main reason behind this.
In a startling revelation, the study further stated that although the balance of recoverable reserves of natural gas fell from 31 trillion to 23.64 trillion standard cubic feet between 2009 and 2014, the share of natural gas in the energy mix was expected to increase moving forward. This was primarily because Pakistan had signed a deal to import Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from Qatar for the next fifteen years which would increase the supply of natural gas into the energy sector and weaken overall energy security.