Comment by Riaz Haq on June 16, 2025 at 10:46am

Pakistan to Add Over 2,600 MW Through Solar Net Metering in FY2025–26

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2550583/solar-net-metering-to-add-over....

The number of net metering consumers is also expected to grow by 197,655, contributing to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator through increasing the share of renewable energy in total energy consumption and supporting grid stability.

At that point, the generation mix is projected to comprise approximately 50.5% from renewable sources (including hydel, solar, solar net metering, wind and bagasse) and 49.5% from thermal sources (such as coal, gas, re-gasified liquefied natural gas, oil and nuclear).

The power sector will receive a public investment of Rs161,635 million from the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) of FY26, including government-budgeted/self-finance projects of power companies, excluding independent power producers (IPPs).

The government plans to execute 63 projects.

These investments will contribute directly to the achievement of SDGs through distribution and transmission projects aimed at increasing access to electricity and through power generation projects by enhancing the share of renewable energy.

By the end of June 2026, the transmission sector will be boosted by an additional capacity of 5,550, 4,710 and 1,300 MVA on 500-kilovolt, 220kV and high-voltage, direct-current (HVDC) grids, respectively.

These transmission lines will be extended by 170 km (500kV), 355 km (220kV) and 137 km (±660kV). Additionally, one new grid station will be established at the 765kV level and two at the 220kV level.

To increase the proportion of population having access to electricity, the targeted investment in power distribution will lead to the electrification of 15,352 villages and the addition of 1.861 million new consumer connections during FY26.

These efforts will directly expand electricity access across urban and rural areas.


——————-+

Pakistan to Add Over 2,600 MW Through Solar Net Metering in FY2025–26

Pakistan is making a big leap in renewable energy. According to the Annual Plan 2025–26, 2,800 megawatts will be added to the grid next year, 2,633 MW of which will come from solar net metering.

This shift highlights growing public participation in clean energy production, despite an already surplus generation capacity.

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 17, 2025 at 10:00am

Pakistan's solar surge lifts it into rarefied 25% club

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/pakistans-solar-surge-l...

(Reuters) - Pakistan is rapidly emerging as a key leader in solar power deployment, and not just within emerging economies.
The South Asian country has boosted solar electricity generation by over three times the global average so far this year, fuelled by a more than fivefold rise in solar capacity imports since 2022, according to data from Ember.

That combination of rapidly rising capacity and generation has propelled solar power from Pakistan's fifth-largest electricity source in 2023 to its largest in 2025.

What's more, so far in 2025 solar power has accounted for 25% of Pakistan's utility-supplied electricity, which makes it one of fewer than 20 nations globally that have sourced a quarter or more of monthly electricity supplies from solar farms.
EXCLUSIVE CLUB
Over the first four months of 2025, solar farms generated an average of 25.3% of Pakistan's utility electricity supplies, Ember data shows.
That average compares with a solar share of 8% globally, around 11% in China, 8% in the United States and 7% in Europe.
And while the average solar shares in the Northern Hemisphere will climb steadily through the summer months, very few countries will even come close to securing a quarter of all utility electricity supplies from solar farms any time soon.

Indeed, only 17 countries have ever registered a 25% or more share of monthly utility electricity supplies from solar farms, according to Ember.

Those nations are: Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Portugal and Spain.
That list is heavily skewed towards Europe, where the power sector shock from Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 sparked urgent and widespread power-sector reform and the rapid roll-out of renewable generation capacity.

ndeed, Australia and Chile are the only nations aside from Pakistan that are outside Europe, and all included nations boast a far higher gross domestic product (GDP) per capita than Pakistan.
IMPORT DRIVE
The chief driver of Pakistan's solar surge has been an accelerating import binge of solar capacity modules from China.

Between 2022 and 2024, Pakistan's imports of China-made solar components jumped fivefold from around 3,500 megawatts (MW) to a record 16,600 MW, according to Ember.

Pakistan's share of China's total solar module exports also rose sharply, from 2% in 2022 to nearly 7% in 2024.
And that import binge has continued into 2025.
Over the first four months of the year, Pakistan imported just over 10,000 MW of solar components from China, compared with around 8,500 MW during the same period in 2024.
That rise of nearly 18% in imported capacity has lifted Pakistan's share of China's solar exports to new highs too, with Pakistan accounting for around 12% of all of China's solar exports so far this year.
SOLAR-CENTRIC
The frantic deployment of imported solar modules across Pakistan in recent years has upended the country's electricity generation mix.
So far in 2025, solar is by far the single largest source of electricity, followed by natural gas, nuclear reactors, coal plants and hydro dams.

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 17, 2025 at 10:01am

Pakistan's solar surge lifts it into rarefied 25% club

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/pakistans-solar-surge-l...

As solar farms were the fifth-largest supply source for electricity just two years ago, solar's pre-eminence so far this marks a sharp swing towards renewables within the country's utility network.
In addition, the country is committed to much more growth in renewable energy generation capacity through the rest of this decade.
Pakistan is targeting 60% of electricity supplies to come from renewable sources by 2030, according to the International Trade Administration.
Through the first four months of 2025, renewable energy sources generated 28% of the country's electricity, so energy planners are aiming for a more than doubling in that share by the end of the decade.
With solar modules representing the quickest and cheapest means to meet those goals, further rapid build-out of the country's solar farm system looks likely, which will cement Pakistan's status as a global solar superpower.

Comment by Riaz Haq 21 hours ago

Shift to solar comes at a price for Pakistan’s national grid

https://www.ft.com/content/91116c44-bacf-43f4-9b6f-63a6c738ef4e

Pakistani officials are desperate to slow a world-leading solar revolution, as a surge in cut-price Chinese panels and batteries bleeds the country’s finances and threatens the viability of its debt-ridden grid. The power ministry has proposed to reform the country’s “net metering” policy by reducing the amount paid to buy excess solar electricity from households from Rs27 to Rs10 ($0.035) per unit. In June, the government also proposed an 18 per cent tax on imported panels, later revised and passed at 10 per cent.

Shimmering Chinese panels, blocked from the US by tariffs, have spread across the roofs and backyards of factories, mosques, farms and wealthy neighbourhoods. Last year, the country of 240mn people imported 17GW worth of solar capacity, among the world’s highest, says renewable energy think-tank Ember. Solar units delivered at least a 10th of electricity needs and helped consumers offset power prices that have doubled in three years. The surge helped progress towards a target of 30 per cent of power from renewable sources by 2030, but the twin policies aim to stem what analysts have called a “death spiral”, as households who can afford solar switch off the grid, while more bills go unpaid by poorer customers who cannot afford the jump in power prices.

But traders and analysts expect demand for panels and batteries to stay high even if both measures pass. Avinash Kumar, a solar panel trader in the city of Sukkur, says the tax would barely dent demand as panel prices have fallen since last year. Fears of net metering reform are spurring customers to buy Chinese hybrid inverters, costing about Rs450,000 ($1,590), which feed energy back to the grid and store it in batteries, Kumar adds. “Sales are doubling every year.”

Comment by Riaz Haq 21 hours ago

Shift to solar comes at a price for Pakistan’s national grid

https://www.ft.com/content/91116c44-bacf-43f4-9b6f-63a6c738ef4e

Demand for lithium-ion batteries is also surging, traders and importers say, in part because households are preparing to lose the payments from selling to the grid that they use to offset high charges during peak usage times in the evening, while industries also want to scale up renewables. Pakistan introduced net metering 10 years ago to help households defray the costs of installing solar — then 10 times higher — by letting them sell spare power to the grid. The move worked, but policymakers say a surge in installations — net metering capacity was 2,813MW as of March — from 300,000 consumers, mostly households, added a burden of Rs150bn ($529mn) on the other 40mn consumers last year from fixed and buyback costs. The impact could reach Rs4,400bn for the period 2025 to 2034 if current policy persists, officials say. At the same time, demand for grid power has fallen.

Since 2015, Pakistan has drawn in billions of dollars of sovereign-backed loans to build power plants, and signed long-term liquefied natural gas deals. This resolved blackouts but was costly, as economic growth has not kept up with demand projections. The result is a country owing $18bn in mounting power and gas sector debts to finance excess energy supply. According to Arzachel, a consultancy, two-thirds of a household electric bill comes from fixed costs, such as capacity charges even for idling plants. In March, the government proposed cutting the electricity buyback rate, reducing the licensing period for net metering contracts, and limiting consumers to installing only as much solar as is authorised by their electricity provider. The plan stalled after it was denounced as “cruel” by politicians, who said consumers and industries would be saddled with power costs of between Rs30 and Rs60 per unit, among the highest in south Asia.

Power minister Awais Leghari says a change is a “necessity” as the “wealthiest households in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad . . . avoid fixed costs while their share is covered by the most vulnerable”.

Power minister Awais Leghari says poorer customers are subsidising those who can afford solar “Why should we buy power at a price that is Rs17 more expensive than the national energy pool price I buy from other generators?” Leghari says. He adds that reforms would raise payback periods to four or five years, from two to three currently, which “remains a fair incentive”.

Haneea Isaad of Islamabad-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis says there was nearly a nationwide blackout during Eid in March, as solar power surged and the grid could not absorb frequency changes as some backup generators and plants were switched off due to low demand in the holiday. “Technical problems are . . . a ticking time bomb,” she says, and the switch to solar means companies are losing revenues to invest. The government says imported panels harm prospects of a local industry and it hopes to recoup some of the import bill. Analysts say the proposed levy is aimed at slowing solar adoption. To boost grid use, enabling investment to improve the service, Pakistan is banking on cryptocurrency mining, AI data centres, power cost reductions, levies on industries using captive natural gas plants, and electric vehicles.

Saadia Qayyum, an energy consultant at Canada-based Hatch, says “the government appears to be relying on short-term policy adjustments that risk slowing down solar adoption” among the poorest. “Many consumers are turning to solar because grid electricity is expensive and unreliable — in some areas, supply is limited to just 8 hours a day,” she says. “Policy shifts that make it harder to access or afford solar risk removing that essential lifeline.”

Comment by Riaz Haq 8 hours ago

Pakistan has quickly become one of the world's biggest markets for solar energy. This solar boom has been driven in large part by consumers who are fed up with sky-high electricity costs.

https://www.npr.org/2025/07/08/nx-s1-5448805/pakistan-becoming-one-...

Comment