Prospects of renewable energy for meeting growing electricity demand in Pakistan

Pakistan is an energy deficit country. About half of the country's population has access to electricity and per capita supply is only 520 kWh. Majority of the country's population resides in rural areas and most of them are yet without electricity. Conventional electricity generation includes 66.8% thermal, 30% hydel and 3.3% nuclear. It has been projected that electricity demand in Pakistan will increase in the range of 12 MTOE to 17 MTOE by the year 2018, at an average growth rate of about 5% to 7% and will require installed capacity of about 35 GW to 50 GW. Indigenous reserves of oil and gas are limited and the country heavily depends on imported oil. Thermal power generation on the other hand also pollutes the environment. This paper presents the availability of renewables such as hydel, solar, wind and biomass energy, and their prospects for meeting growing electricity demand in Pakistan and subsequent contribution in air pollution abatement. The study concludes that there is substantial potential of these renewables and they have also bright prospects for meeting growing electricity demand in Pakistan.