Pakistan is wasting Rs3.5 trillion annually on unnecessary, rising energy-sector imports, according to the conclusion of an event on Pakistan’s energy security organised by the LUMS Energy Institute.
The figure of Rs3.5 trillion a year is described as more than three times the federal development budget. That comparison gives a sense of the scale of the sum involved, setting the annual waste, as characterised by the event, against the amount allocated for development spending by the federal government.
The conclusion attributes the waste to mismanagement, to delays in adopting building codes, and to failure to implement an indigenisation plan for energy materials and equipment that used to be produced locally. Each of those three factors is presented as a cause of the continuing reliance on imports.
The characterisation of the spending as waste comes from the event and the research presented there, and it should be read as the conclusion of the LUMS Energy Institute event, not as a claim made in this article. The event, titled Pakistan’s Energy Security, was organised by the LUMS Energy Institute, known as LEI.
The event was attended by National Grid Pakistan Chairman Dr Fiaz Chaudhry, Chief Executive Officer of the Independent System and Market Operator Dr Masood Ahmad, and National Grid Pakistan CEO Altaf Hussain Malik. Their presence brought senior figures from the power sector into the discussion.
LEI research reported that, despite generation capacity exceeding 36,000 megawatts, Pakistan’s base electricity load of about 8,000 megawatts did not grow between 2015 and 2023. The flat load over that eight-year period is a central finding in the research presented at the event.
The lack of growth in the base load was particularly marked in the four winter months, according to the research. Even as the population grew over the same period, the base electricity load did not rise, a pattern that the researchers highlighted as significant.
The contrast between generation capacity of more than 36,000 megawatts and a base load of about 8,000 megawatts frames the discussion. Capacity, on the figures given, far exceeds the base load, yet the load itself remained unchanged between 2015 and 2023.
LEI researchers Umar Farooq and Faisal Javaid Mughal said Pakistan could achieve substantial savings and improve affordability and long-term energy security through integrated system planning, energy efficiency, renewable energy integration and indigenous manufacturing. The four measures they named form the core of the proposed response.
Integrated system planning, energy efficiency, renewable energy integration and indigenous manufacturing are presented as the route to savings. The researchers linked those measures directly to affordability and to long-term energy security, suggesting that the gains would be felt in both the cost of energy and the stability of supply.
The failure to implement an indigenisation plan is a key part of the account given at the event. Energy materials and equipment that used to be produced locally are now imported, and the absence of a plan to restore local production is cited as one of the reasons for the continuing import bill.
Delays in adopting building codes are also cited. Building codes affect how much energy buildings use, and the delay in adopting them is presented as a factor in the waste identified by the event.
Mismanagement is the third factor named. Together, the three factors — mismanagement, delayed building codes, and the unimplemented indigenisation plan — are presented as the explanation for why energy-sector imports have remained unnecessarily high and have continued to rise.
The research finding that the base load did not grow between 2015 and 2023, despite population growth, adds a further element. A growing population would ordinarily be expected to bring rising demand, and the absence of that growth in the base load over eight years is presented as a notable feature of the sector.
The researchers’ proposals point towards a different approach. Integrated planning, efficiency, renewables and local manufacturing are offered as the means to achieve savings, improve affordability and strengthen long-term security, in contrast to the present reliance on imports described at the event.
Source: Dawn
