Good to know that #PM #Pakistan #ImranKhan has reiterated Pakistan's "strong and unwavering" commitment to enhanced climate action while speaking to Global leaders during Climate Action Summit this year.
Pakistan has committed to shifting 60% of its energymix towards clean and zero- carbon energy by 2030, comprising wind, hydro, and solar.
PM Pakistan Imran Khan also added that the country was also poised to convert 30% new vehicles hitting the roads into #electricvehicles by #2030.
Where does Pakistan stand today?
Historically, Pakistan’s energy portfolio has been dominated by fossil fuels . Currently, more than 60% of the electricity generated in Pakistan comes from fossil fuels. Therefore, its good to see that finally Pakistan Government’s fatal attraction to fossil fuels seems to be fading and Pakistan has decided to shift away from dirty coal towards environmental friendly renewable energy options.
According to a latest World Bank study, expanding renewable energy in Pakistan can make electricity cheaper, achieve greater energy security, reduce carbon emissions, and help Pakistan save up to $5 billion over the next 20 years.
While Pakistan has strong potential for producing renewable energy it is still far behind much of the world in developing these sources. The installed capacity of solar and wind energy in Pakistan, at just over 1,500 Megawatts, is just 4 percent of total installed electricity generation capacity of Pakistan of around 37,402 MW in 2020 according to Pakistan Economic Survey 2019–20. Therefore, Pakistan has long road ahead before this target of 60% of its energy mix towards clean and zero-carbon energy by 2030 be met on time.
Despite Pakistan has significantly reduced the gap between the country’s energy supply and demand to counter blackouts by increasing the installed generation capacity from 23,000 MW in 2014 to 37,402 MW by 2020 (the new added generation has primarily been fossil fuel-based). However, overall energy planning remained fragmented across the energy value chain, with little focus on improving the energy mix, upgrading transmission and distribution capacity, energy infrastructure, efficiency, and improving the recovery of electricity dues.
In my opinion, Pakistan requires a holistic approach to innovation in order to achieve these targets. There is a need to look at a system with all its components, and at all the actors with roles that are necessary to enable large scale use of clean energy. Increasing energy generation won't solve the problem It’s important to understand that only energy generation won’t help Pakistan to meet these targets. Because energy generation, transmission, distribution, and consumption is holding some part of the solution and only when all of these solutions are integrated and fit together then only Pakistan can realistically meet these targets on time.
References:
https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2020/09/24/pakistan-making-shift-to-clean-power-production-and-lower-energy-costs-with-world-bank-support#:~:text=WASHINGTON%2C%20September%2024%2C%202020%20%E2%80%93,lower%20costs%20of%20electricity%20production.
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