Energy Crisis in Pakistan
By Bashir A. Syed
Vice President, R&D
Member: Amer. Phys. Soc., IEEE, Amer. Sol. Energy Soc., International Sol. Energy Soc., and New York Academy of Sciences. Fulbright Scholar.
Alt-EnergyTech, Inc.
Houston, TX
The news from Pakistan about load-shedding leading to blackouts lasting eight-hours everyday till end January due to fuel shortage and canal closing for maintenance purposes is truly disturbing. The load-shedding is going to affect homes, businesses, healthcare institutions, and industries.
It is reported that the gap between supply and demand is more than 4000 MW during the peak hours of the evening. The situation is also due to a decline in the energy produced by hydroelectric means.
The bad news is that no new projects are expected to generate enough power to bridge the gap between supply and demand, which makes the situation worse. The Bhasha Hydroelectric Project proposed in the1980’s is still under development and will not be completed before 2016. The Government’s thermal energy policy fell flat and failed to attract the required private investors. The new policy document is unlikely to woo any new investors. Band-aid solutions to meet the shortage of 3000 MW are short sighted.
The so-called energy experts did not realize that the sun can provide consistent and inexhaustible energy. They need to focus their attention on alternate forms of energy based on sun rather than going for unreliable glittery projects.
A few years ago Pakistan established an Alternate Energy Development Board (AEDB) under the Ministry of Science and Technology which was later shifted to the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), slowing down the progress for interdicting renewable energy technologies for the benefit of the peoples of Pakistan.
The website of AEDB shows the promise of this entity and the accompanying wonderful results. Here are some of the results taken from AEDB’s website. The board consists of 23 officers out of whom 1/4th come from Defense departments and the other 3/4th consist of names that replaced some of the former competent members. On the same page it is mentioned that the Asian Development Bank approved $ 510 million for Renewable Energy Projects. The data on Renewable Energy Sector also provides an overview of the Electrical Energy Sector, i.e. total installed capacity of 19,505 MW, as follows: (a) Thermal (fossil fuels –12,580 MW or 60%), (b) Hydroelectric (6,463 MW or 33%), and (c) Nuclear (462 MW or 2%). This leads to the question as to how many megawatts were added by the Renewable Energy since the inception of AEDB?
The seed for Solar Energy in Pakistan was implanted in 1957 by the late Dr. Mujtaba Karim, head of the Physics Department of Karachi University after he participated in the International Geophysical Year meetings in United States. His own staff made fun of him, diminishing the zeal to explore alternative energy quest for future use.
It was not until many years later that the Pakistan government first received solar photovoltaic systems from Japan as their foreign aid package, but due to lack of maintenance of batteries the high officials in the government (as heard from a Minister during the Nawaz Sharif government) blamed the Japanese that these solar PV systems never worked, while such systems worked in Japan for many, many years to this day.
In September1987, during Zia-ul-Haq’s administration a plan to set up 30MW wind farm was launched with the collaboration of the National Institute of Power, Pakistan Council of Applied Technologies, and a Dutch company Holec. The plan was finally approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology in February 1989 at a total cost of 204 million Dutch Kroner. But during Benazir’s first administration this project was abandoned like the Turkish contract to build the road linking Pakistan with Iran and Turkey. The Danish company was sent home packing after the abrupt decision not to build this wind farm after two years of effort and spending millions of dollars. In 2004, the AEDB advertised to establish large number of Wind Farms. Recent data shows that there are 93 contenders for such wind projects listed on their website, out of which perhaps two have been given the green light and are still in works.
During the past three years many countries have installed wind turbines of more than 3000 MW capacity. In Texas alone, during the last two years total wind generation has gone up by 1500 MW.
Here are some of the achievements posted on the website of AEDB:
Wind Energy:
(a) More than 1 MW or 50 MW Wind Farms that could produce 700 MW by 2010: Thus far 93 organizations in 2006 showed interest, but only two have been granted approval. The plans call for wind energy generation amounting to 9700 MW by 2030 (that depends on lot of factors).
(b) In the meantime efforts have been concentrated on Micro-Wind Turbines capable of generating 300-Watt to 500-Watt each, to electrify 700 homes in rural areas.
Solar Photovoltaic PV Energy:
80-Watt Solar Home Systems, generating 81–kilowatts (total), have been installed in about 1000 rural homes.
Solar Thermal:
(a) A 10-kilowatt Dish/ Sterling Engine project, and
(b) 22 kilowatt Parabolic Reflector-Sun Tracked system are under development.
Fuel-Cell project :
A 1 kilowatt demonstration Fuel Cell, and a Hydrogen fuel based experimental car are under development, as shown during the International Conference on Alternative Energy & Power and Exhibition held at the Expo Center, Karachi during March 9-11, 2007.
Biomass: Six waste incinerating plants capable of generating 770 kilowatt of electricity have been set up in Pakistan. Plans are afoot for generating 30 MW from waste, and 8.25 MW from ethanol derived from sugarcane.
With the above state of affairs and due to depleting fossil fuel resources in Pakistan, it is no wonder that the people of Pakistan have to put up with energy shortage due to blackouts that are self-inflicted owing to poor planning. Knowing that technology and funds are available, it is a shame that even 1 MW was not added during the past 2-3 years.
The worldwide availability backlog of wind turbines has also contributed to energy headaches to meet the priorities in energy conscious countries.
