Comment by Riaz Haq on May 19, 2026 at 10:52am

Pakistan’s operational PV capacity estimated a 51 GW – pv magazine International


https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/05/19/pakistans-operational-pv-cap...

Latest report from Renewables First finds that Pakistan’s solarization continues to grow with households, farms and businesses turning to distributed solar to reduce their reliance on the grid.

MAY 19, 2026 PATRICK JOWETT

Pakistan had deployed an estimated 51 GW of solar as of March 2026, according to a new report from Renewables First, with solar module imports reaching 54 GW by the end of the same month.

The latest edition of the think tank’s flagship report, Pakistan Electricity Review 2026, finds that electrification in Pakistan is accelerating through distributed solar installations despite grid-based indicators suggesting stagnation.

Figures in the report highlight that electricity generated by utility-scale power sources in Pakistan reached 135 TWh in the period from July 2024 to June 2025, known as fiscal year 2025 (FY25), representing a 2% year-on-year decline. This is the fourth consecutive decline in reliance on utility-scale electricity generation, which peaked at 154 TWh in fiscal year 2022 (FY22).

Away from these figures, distributed solar, consisting of net-metering, behind-the-meter and off-grid solar deployment, generated 51 TWh in FY25, taking Pakistan's total electricity generation to a record 186 TWh. Renewables First’s report says the 51 TWh generated last fiscal year is equivalent to roughly 46% of grid-supplied electricity over the same time period.

Speaking during a webinar launching the report earlier today, Renewables First Associate – Energy Insights, Nabiya Imran, explained that new growth in electricity is increasingly being met by distributed solar. “It is being met outside the grid,” Imran said. “Or in other words, the demand that was first entirely on the grid has migrated to behind the meter and net metered distributed solar.”

The report adds that grid sales, defined as the electricity purchased by consumers from the state-owned central utility network, reached 111 TWh in FY25, a 1.7% increase year-on-year but down on a FY22 peak. “This does not reflect falling electricity demand,” the report explains. “Instead, a growing share of consumption is being met through distributed solar, indicating that underlying electricity use continues to rise but is increasingly bypassing the grid.”

Renewables First latest report follows previous research that highlighted the scale of Pakistan’s solar market is underrepresented in official statistics. In today’s webinar, Imran explained that there are two parallel systems currently operating in Pakistan.

“On one side, we have the centralized grid, which is structured around unidirectional power flows, thermal plants and thermal dependence. At the same time, we have consumers investing increasingly in distributed solar, driven by high electricity tariffs and cheaper solar panel costs,” Imran told attendees. “So, there's a mismatch between these two systems. The goal is to bridge that mismatch, because that will help us reduce our fossil fuel dependence and improve macroeconomic resilience.”

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 19, 2026 at 10:53am

Pakistan’s operational PV capacity estimated a 51 GW – pv magazine International


https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/05/19/pakistans-operational-pv-cap...

Imran added that clean technologies such as solar, batteries and electric vehicles are also an opportunity to localize manufacturing. “And in turn, it supports the broader economic development of the country,” she said.

In the report’s forward, Sohaib Malik, Senior Fellow – Energy Transitions at Renewables First, wrote that while policymakers are starting to recognize the challenges facing the country’s centralized model of power generation and supply, the full extent of the shift is yet to be appreciated by most stakeholders because of the incomplete and imprecise datasets available to them.

The report adds that with distributed solar eroding utility revenues faster than thermal capacity can be rationalized, the sector is moving towards an inflection point with insufficient policy frameworks to navigate it.”

“The sector’s inflection point will depend on how quickly planning and policy frameworks adapt to decentralized, bi-directional electricity flows,” the report says. “A shift in focus from capacity expansion to system optimization (flexibility, storage and demand side management) will be critical to improving efficiency and reducing costs.”

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 4, 2026 at 10:27am

Startup Pakistan
@PakStartup
China–Pakistan cooperation is accelerating Pakistan’s shift toward energy self-reliance through major investments in solar power, electric vehicles, and green infrastructure.

With around 38 GW of solar already installed and rising EV adoption, Pakistan is entering a new phase of electrification.

Reports suggest the country has saved billions in fuel imports due to renewable energy expansion led by Chinese technology and financing.

Joint ventures with companies like BAIC and BYD are also boosting local EV assembly and public transport electrification.

Alongside infrastructure, training programs are being launched to develop skilled manpower for Pakistan’s growing renewable energy sector.

Read more: https://startuppakistan.com.pk/china-pakistan-cooperation-drives-pa...

#ChinaPakistan #GreenEnergy #SolarPower #EVRevolution #PakistanEnergy #RenewableFuture

https://x.com/PakStartup/status/2062470674036265332?s=20

Comment by Riaz Haq 13 hours ago

Pakistan Building A Digital And Green Future - OpEd - Eurasia Review

https://www.eurasiareview.com/10082026-pakistan-building-a-digital-...

By Dr. Hamza Khan

Pakistan’s youth bulge and three concurrent transitions—digital export growth, decentralised solar power, and data-driven agriculture—create an opportunity to link these sectors into a single, higher-productivity development model.
ICT exports and freelancing are already generating multi-billion-dollar inflows and a trade surplus, while rapid solar expansion (now supplying a majority of low-carbon power) can cut costs for firms and farms if storage, grids and pricing keep pace.
Agri-tech focused on water efficiency, satellite intelligence and inclusive digital platforms can raise farm incomes and resilience, but success depends on institutions that turn parallel gains into a connected system rather than isolated privileges.


Pakistan’s development debate is often trapped between crisis management and distant promises. A better reading of the country in 2026 is that three transitions are already underway: services are becoming digitally exportable, electricity is becoming decentralised and low-carbon, and agriculture is acquiring a data layer. The 2023 national census confirms an overwhelmingly young society, with roughly three-fifths of citizens below 25. That youth bulge can become either an employment burden or the workforce of a new production model.

The opportunity is not to celebrate IT, solar power and agri-tech separately, but to connect them. Digital exports can ease Pakistan’s foreign-exchange constraint; distributed energy can reduce costs for firms and farms; and data-driven agriculture can raise productivity while conserving water. According to the Pakistan Economic Survey’s technology chapter, Pakistan had 207.22 million telecom subscriptions and 160.9 million broadband connections by March 2026. The latest technology-export figures show receipts reaching approximately US$4.18 billion during July-May, FY2025-26, about 20 percent higher year on year, with US$373 million earned in May.

Digital Exports: Moving Beyond Low-Cost Labour
Technology is no longer peripheral. The Economic Survey records 34,420 registered IT and IT-enabled-services companies by March 2026. ICT exports produced a US$2.91 billion trade surplus during July-March, 86 percent of sectoral receipts, while verified technology-related freelancer inflows reached US$856.3 million in nine months and exceeded US$1 billion by May. This transaction-based figure is more defensible than broader US$1.6 billion estimates that may include additional categories.



Pakistan must now move freelancers and software houses from one-off assignments towards recurring contracts in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud services, gaming, fintech and business-process engineering. DigiSkills has delivered more than 5.51 million trainings, but scale must be matched by recognised certification, communication skills, intellectual-property protection and dependable connectivity. The Digital Nation Pakistan Act 2025provides a framework for digital public infrastructure and data governance. Its value will depend on whether firms can securely verify identities, receive payments, obtain credit and access public services efficiently.

Comment by Riaz Haq 13 hours ago

Pakistan Building A Digital And Green Future - OpEd - Eurasia Review

https://www.eurasiareview.com/10082026-pakistan-building-a-digital-...

By Dr. Hamza Khan

Solar Power as Industrial Policy
Pakistan’s solar expansion is among the world’s most striking bottom-up energy transitions. A REN21 assessment estimated that net-metered rooftop capacity reached 5.3 GW by April 2025, nearly ten times its level two years earlier. Ember’s latest country dataindicate that low-carbon sources supplied 55 percent of Pakistan’s electricity in 2025. The recommended scenario in the IGCEP 2025-35 projects renewables, including hydropower, producing 69 percent of electricity by 2034-35, with solar and wind supplying 10 percent each.



Solarisation should be treated as industrial policy, not simply climate policy. Affordable daytime electricity can power software campuses, cold chains, food processing, electric mobility and small manufacturing. The danger is a two-tier system in which affluent consumers leave the grid while poorer households inherit fixed capacity costs. Pakistan needs storage, stronger distribution networks, time-of-use pricing and incentives for productive daytime demand. The transition will last only if it lowers economy-wide costs rather than shifting them between consumers. Pakistan’s own generation plan warns that after 2027, thermal plants alone may be unable to manage the ramping pressures created by rising solar integration, strengthening the case for battery storage and grid modernisation.

Agri-Tech: The Critical Convergence Test
The FY2025-26 agriculture survey reports that agriculture contributed 23.44 percent of GDP and grew by 2.89 percent. Yet surface-water availability was 92 million acre-feet, 11.1 percent below average system usage. Agri-tech must therefore focus on resource productivity, not fashionable hardware. Satellite crop intelligence, moisture sensors, weather forecasting, precision fertiliser use, digital marketplaces and solar-powered cold storage can reduce waste and improve margins. Solar irrigation, however, must be paired with groundwater monitoring or cheaper pumping could accelerate aquifer depletion.



The National Agri Stack roadmap offers an architecture based on verified farmer identities, integrated land data, satellite intelligence, digital payments, credit, crop insurance and market links. Three to four pilots were prioritised for the first 12-18 months. Inclusion will be decisive: tenant farmers, women, sharecroppers and farmers without clear land titles must not disappear from a system built around formal records. Success should mean higher incomes, lower post-harvest losses, improved water efficiency and faster finance, not merely more registered users.

From Parallel Successes to One Production System
Pakistan can create a circular development model: digitally skilled workers generate export income; renewable power lowers production costs; and digital platforms help agriculture use energy, water, finance and logistics more efficiently. This convergence can narrow the urban-rural divide because software, payments, advisory services and distributed electricity can reach places where large industrial investment may not. It also offers Pakistan a new export identity, one based not only on goods produced domestically, but on knowledge, digitally enabled services and climate-smart agricultural value chains.



The country is not guaranteed a digital and green future; it must build the institutions that make one possible. That requires stable internet, competitive energy markets, interoperable public data, cybersecurity, technical education, patient capital and transparent regulation. Pakistan’s most promising transformation is not any single sector, but a connected system in which code earns foreign exchange, clean power reduces vulnerability and intelligence applied to farms strengthens food security. The future will be secured when digital capability and green infrastructure become instruments of mass productivity rather than islands of privilege.

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