Pakistani company workers arrange and organize solar panels (solar energy) for a marketing manifestation in a park in the capital Islamabad. Pakistanis are increasingly realizing that year-round sun may be a speedy, quick and cheap, economical answer to a huge energy crisis. From mosques, to homes and streets.
- Pakistani company workers arrange solar panels.
“It’s the most excellent thing I bought this winter,” says Sardar Azam, a former civil servant retired to a river-side home in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, showing off his water-heating solar geyser installed on the porch, terrace. Moreover he said that “The biggest benefit is that you spend money once and it runs on sunlight which is free of charge, cost,” Pakistan needs to produce 16,000 megawatts of electricity a day but only manages 13,000 megawatts, according to the Pakistan Electric Power Company, (now there is a 5000-6000 megawatts shortfall in the electric generation). The shortfall means that millions suffer electricity cuts for up to 16 hours a day, leaving them freezing in winter and sweltering in summer while hitting industry rigidly, intensified a slow-burn recession.
Pakistani Voters Views:
Pakistani Voters say it is their major and prime single concern, secondary to the war against terrorism, and so the government has been increasingly vocal about redressing the issue, crisis as it eyes elections within a year. ”I think all our friends are encouraged to understand the real energy crisis that is in Pakistan. We can’t afford to be selective of where we receive our energy supply from,” Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said. File photo of people protesting against electricity shortages in Lahore on March 20. Regardless of a wealth of natural resources, Pakistan produces only 80 percent of its electricity needs and even some of that comes from imported fuel. At the time, she was referring to Pakistan’s determination to build a pipeline and import gas from Iran, despite US threats of sanctions, but the message was clear: on the energy front, Pakistan needs any help it can get.
- File photo of people protesting against electricity shortages (AFP).
Arif Allaudin, who heads the Alternate Energy Development Board, would like to see more of that assistance coming from renewable sources, saying there was a 2.4 million megawatt potential for solar energy alone in Pakistan. Niaz Ahmed Kathia, director of private company Alternate Energy Systems, said plentiful and free sunshine was the answer to Pakistan’s energy misery. ”Energy is our biggest problem, in excess of terrorism, and if we replace our one million tube well pumps with solar ones, we can save 7,000 megawatts,” Kathia told AFP at the demonstration of a solar well in the capital.
The majority of Pakistan’s tubewell pumps, which pump out underground water, run on the strained national grid or on diesel power. There is no pretence that solar power is the only answer, but recently the prime minister ordered the government to provide solar electricity in distant villages far from the national grid. The government described renewable energy as the “investor’s choice” and said the private sector has offered to produce 1,500 megawatts a day.
Solar Power Geyser Display:
Former civil servant Sardar Azam (R) proudly shows off a solar geyser at his riverside home in Pakistani-administered Kashmir. In the mountains of Kashmir there is no gas pipeline and in the cold winter months electricity bills are excessively costly. In Azam’s hometown of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, solar panels light up a public park and mosques. Solar street lights are also being installed gradually in cities such as Rawalpindi, Lahore and Karachi. Pakistan’s first on-grid solar power station, capable of producing 178.9 kilowatts, began test operations in Islamabad this month with a funding of $5.4 million from the (JICA) Japan International Cooperation Agency.
- Sardar Azam (R) riverside home in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
”It is a seed for thousands more solar power plants,” Senator Rukhsana Zuberi, a former chairperson of the Pakistan Engineering Council told AFP. This winter Pakistan suffered a two billion cubic feet a day shortage of natural gas — usually the foundation of millions delivered to homes and industry via pipelines — sparking protests and forcing factories to suspend laborers. The problem is remedial plans are only at an embryonic, or somewhat developing stage. ”We plan to promote the use of solar geysers as the gas shortage is becoming acute, severe,” petroleum and natural resources minister Asim Hussain said. ”The gas companies would install solar water heaters at consumer premises and deduct the amount in installments in the gas bills,” he added.
Sunlight Orientation in Pakistan:
Power generated during sunlight hours can be stored in deep cycle lead acid batteries to power lights, radios, televisions and fans at night. Norwegian company Telenor says it has set up and arranged 50 solar-powered cell sites, habitually in remote areas, capable of reducing 2.5 tones of carbon dioxide per site by saving over 940 litres of diesel a month. Traders say demand has definitely risen. A 170-litre (37-gallon) capacity solar geyser starts from 27,000 rupees ($300) and a 218-litre version for 32,000 rupees as a one-time cost. ”Solar geysers can reduce gas bills significantly. The technology is not only environment friendly but also pocket friendly,” said seller Shakil Ahmed.
Image-(AFP).
