r3alist
Elite Member
The chances are they are thinking of something
So I would not dismiss it, let's see
Pakistan Solar Power: News & Updates
- Thread starter ghazi52
- Start date
The chances are they are thinking of something
So I would not dismiss it, let's see
RealNapster
Elite Member
.let's see.
Waz
Administrator
How Pakistan quietly became the world’s biggest solar importer
Pakistan Flooding Anniversary
There was no sweeping law, no global investment blitz, no prime minister announcing a green revolution. And yet by the end of 2024, Pakistan imported more solar panels than almost any other nation in the world.
The South Asian country, once facing economic challenges and high energy poverty, is now witnessing one of the most unexpected clean energy success stories of the decade.
Pakistan has joined the ranks of the world’s leading solar markets, importing an estimated 17 gigawatts of solar panels in just 2024, according to data from the Global Electricity Review 2025 by Ember, a UK-based energy think tank. This surge represents a doubling of the previous year’s imports and puts Pakistan among the top global buyers of solar panels.
The scale of Pakistan’s imports is particularly striking because it was not driven by a large national programme or utility-scale rollout. Instead, the majority of the demand appears to have come from rooftop solar installations by households, small businesses, and commercial users looking to secure cheaper and more reliable electricity in the face of frequent power outages and rising energy costs.
According to Ember, rooftop solar installations in Pakistan’s homes and businesses soared as a “means of accessing lower-cost power”, the think tank notes in its latest report.
Experts in Pakistan echo this analysis. Muhammad Mustafa Amjad, programme director at Renewables First, tells The Independent, the solar boom is best understood as a “survival response” by citizens and businesses that were “increasingly being priced out of the grid, due to inefficient planning and unreliable supply”.
“It marks a structural shift,” he adds, “in how energy is perceived in Pakistan.”
Pakistan’s solar panel imports in fiscal year 2024 alone, Mr Amjad says, amount to roughly half of the country’s peak power demand.
“Rooftop solar is fast becoming the preferred energy provider,” he adds. “And the role of the grid has to massively adapt in order to remain relevant in a fast-transitioning energy economy.”
Ubaid Ullah, an energy expert based in Karachi, says Pakistan’s energy transition was driven by people taking matters into their own hands. “If you look at satellite images of any Pakistani city, all the roofs appear blue – covered in solar panels,” he tells The Independent.
In a region often plagued by grid instability, solar panels have emerged as a practical alternative to unreliable public supply. The sharp increase in imports in 2024 follows years of worsening power cuts, fluctuating tariffs, and high costs associated with diesel generators and imported fuels. Rather than waiting for national reforms, many Pakistanis began adopting solar technologies directly – often installing panels and inverters without much reliance on subsidies or centralised planning.
This makes Pakistan’s solar growth somewhat unusual in the global landscape. In many countries, solar adoption has been closely tied to climate policy or international financing. In contrast, Pakistan’s solar boom appears to be a response to market logic and local necessity, not climate diplomacy. The Ember report says Pakistan's growth is happening largely “outside formal energy planning frameworks”.
In a region often plagued by grid instability, solar panels have emerged as a practical alternative to unreliable public supply. The sharp increase in imports in 2024 follows years of worsening power cuts, fluctuating tariffs, and high costs associated with diesel generators and imported fuels. Rather than waiting for national reforms, many Pakistanis began adopting solar technologies directly – often installing panels and inverters without much reliance on subsidies or centralised planning.
This makes Pakistan’s solar growth somewhat unusual in the global landscape. In many countries, solar adoption has been closely tied to climate policy or international financing. In contrast, Pakistan’s solar boom appears to be a response to market logic and local necessity, not climate diplomacy. The Ember report says Pakistan's growth is happening largely “outside formal energy planning frameworks”.
Experts say there is minimal direct government intervention in Pakistan’s solar journey. In fact, the infrastructure is struggling to keep up. While regulators approved net metering policies and eased import restrictions in recent years, there have been no major public spending programmes or large-scale solar auctions to match the pace of adoption seen at the household or commercial level.
Despite importing record volumes of panels, Pakistan’s official grid-connected solar capacity remains far below these figures – indicating that much of the new solar is operating off-grid or behind the meter, where it escapes inclusion in national electricity statistics.
This divergence between on-the-ground installations and official planning is already raising concerns. Grid operators and utility companies are struggling to adapt to the effects of widespread self-generation, particularly in urban areas where high-value customers are increasingly generating their own electricity during the day and relying on the grid only as backup. This dynamic, sometimes referred to as a “utility death spiral”, can erode the financial base of public energy providers while placing new pressure on infrastructure during peak evening hours.
In its analysis, Ember warns that this kind of rapid, decentralised growth requires updated planning and regulatory tools to avoid instability. “Updated system planning and regulatory frameworks are needed alongside this deployment to ensure a sustainable and managed transition,” the report says.
While the focus has been on solar, Pakistan’s broader renewable energy mix includes growing contributions from wind, hydropower, and bioenergy. However, solar is by far the fastest-moving segment – particularly because it can be deployed at small scale with minimal bureaucratic friction. In a country with long-standing challenges around governance and infrastructure delivery, the modular nature of solar technology has enabled adoption even in the absence of large public investment.
The 2024 import figures reflect more than a spike in consumer interest. They also speak to the declining costs of solar technology globally, particularly for modules manufactured in China, which dominates international supply chains. Falling equipment prices, combined with volatile local fuel costs and persistent power shortages, have made solar one of the most economically viable energy solutions in Pakistan today.
Despite this, significant gaps remain in how the transition is being managed. With little oversight of system quality, storage deployment, or grid balancing mechanisms, Pakistan risks undermining the long-term benefits of its clean energy expansion. Without stronger data, more transparent planning, and investment in modernising the grid, the current surge may exacerbate existing inequalities in access and reliability.
Still, the broader message from Pakistan’s experience is clear: clean energy adoption is no longer limited to wealthy nations or high-emitting economies. When the economics work, and the barriers are low, energy transitions can take root quickly – even in places where policy has historically lagged behind ambition.
What’s happening in Pakistan may be messy and uneven, but it holds global significance. It offers a blueprint – or at least a suggestion – of how energy transitions might look in much of the Global South. Not as a carefully orchestrated top-down process, but as a decentralised, demand-led shift driven by necessity and economics.
According to Mr Amjad, this makes Pakistan an early example of a new energy model. “For Global South economies,” he says, “this presents an alternative bottom-up, people-led, and market-driven model of energy transition – one that provides secure, distributed, and democratised access to clean and affordable energy.”
Battery storage, he adds, is likely to follow the same trajectory as solar – cheap, modular, and adopted quickly at the edge of the grid, not the centre. “With the price of batteries following a similar trajectory to solar, the pace of energy transition across Global South countries will definitely accelerate, as the volatility around imported fuels continues to encourage renewable growth.”
Harjeet Singh, strategic adviser to the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, says Pakistan’s story shows solar is not just a green option, but an affordable one.
“The phenomenal growth of solar energy in countries like Pakistan underscores that solar is no longer just an environmental choice – it’s a powerful economic solution, especially for the developing world.”
“Faced with volatile fossil fuel prices, soaring electricity bills, and often unreliable grids, households and businesses are embracing solar because it offers a cheaper, cleaner, and more dependable source of power,” Mr Singh says.
“This isn’t simply about decarbonisation anymore; it’s fundamentally about ensuring energy access, driving economic stability, and strengthening energy security from the ground up.”
Waz
Administrator
Interesting that the people are becoming self-sufficient, decentralised power generation is occurring at a rapid rate.
Could be the death bell for state run energy firms who have done nothing of value. The Government will also fast lose revenue.
Could be the death bell for state run energy firms who have done nothing of value. The Government will also fast lose revenue.
AZ_HighCountry
INT'L MOD
Question regarding net metering: at what rate does your local utility buy solar-generated electricity vs. the rate you have to pay them?
AZ_HighCountry
INT'L MOD
@Waz, I'll be frank: am quite impressed with what Pakistani citizens are doing in this area. Here in the US, some locales are trying to mandate installation of solar with all new housing builds. California has been pushing this.
The downside however is the builders, knowing this, have increased the price of the houses accordingly with a minimum of 30% added to the cost of the solar install. The state is doing nothing to address that issue.
In my case, here in AZ-land, I already worked out the design and cost to install a solar system on our soon-to-start new home. The quote from the installer came in where I budgeted it.
It will be unfortunate for Pakistan if the govt. decides to punish the people by taxing them on their installs.
The downside however is the builders, knowing this, have increased the price of the houses accordingly with a minimum of 30% added to the cost of the solar install. The state is doing nothing to address that issue.
In my case, here in AZ-land, I already worked out the design and cost to install a solar system on our soon-to-start new home. The quote from the installer came in where I budgeted it.
It will be unfortunate for Pakistan if the govt. decides to punish the people by taxing them on their installs.
SteppeWolff
Trusted Member
They buy suprlus electricity from consumers at Rs 10 per unit but, they sell electricity from grid at Rs 42 per unit during off peak hours and Rs 48 per unit during peak hours (excluding taxes and whatnot).
Waz
Administrator
Wait but can't folk just buy houses without the panels then have them installed themselves? Or is it the case that all new builds come with the panels?
As for Pakistan's government they are at a loss how to deal with this all, and I now worried regarding payments to the Chinese on loans taken out for power generations. Bills which will now won't be forthcoming as people have acted themselves.
Once the installs are in that is it.
AZ_HighCountry
INT'L MOD
That's horrible IMO. That is less than 25% during off peak. I thought we had it bad at slightly less than 50% of off peak rates.
Pakistan, where it is located geographically, could easily become one big solar farm after another.
AZ_HighCountry
INT'L MOD
That's just it. You have to understand California politics. They are idiots. Trust me when I say they could teach the Pak govt. some new tricks.
I haven't been keeping up with it for the past year or so; the California plan was to have all new builds with the panels already installed. The home buyers would have no option. That will give me something to follow up on.
Here in AZ-land, we still have a choice. Some builders are offering solar as an option. Others are not. From what we are seeing, if you are having a semi-custom or custom home built, solar is an option. More often than not, it is still less for the home buyer to do it after the fact. Tract home builders are not offering solar as an option yet.
The US electrical grid is already in a precarious position and I'm sure Pakistan is probably no different. In my role at work, I've taken a whole new view to solar since taking the role over 4-1/2 years ago. That same though process went into the property selection and design of our new home. The plan is to be on battery power when it is cost effective. Currently it is not.
AZ_HighCountry
INT'L MOD
Ok, update time. This is what people in California are now having to deal with and this could eventually go nationwide.
simplysolar.com
www.solar.com
www.currenthome.com
Everything is being tied into Title 24 and one of the reasons why we had to be extremely careful with a refit of our facility outside LAX back in 2020. Otherwise, Title 24 provisions would have kicked in.
Is the concept the right thing to do? Yes. However, it's the implementation and the manner in which they are enforcing it that is the burden. The California electrical grid is enough of a mess as it is without adding to it.
So as the Pakistani people continue their quest to reduce their reliance on the utilities, hope that the government does not come along with an equivalent to Title 24.
Title 24: Solar Mandates & Requirements | California Solar
Title 24 requirements went into effect in 2020 & were updated in 2022. Simply Solar explains California’s solar mandates & how to reach them!
simplysolar.com
The California Solar Mandate: Everything You Need to Know
The California solar mandate requires newly built homes in California to be equipped with rooftop solar photovoltaic systems beginning January 1, 2020.
www.solar.com
California Solar Mandate: What You Should Know | Current Home
Current Home covers California's solar mandate for new homes starting in 2020, grandfathering exemptions, projected utility savings, and value to homeowners.
www.currenthome.com
Everything is being tied into Title 24 and one of the reasons why we had to be extremely careful with a refit of our facility outside LAX back in 2020. Otherwise, Title 24 provisions would have kicked in.
Is the concept the right thing to do? Yes. However, it's the implementation and the manner in which they are enforcing it that is the burden. The California electrical grid is enough of a mess as it is without adding to it.
So as the Pakistani people continue their quest to reduce their reliance on the utilities, hope that the government does not come along with an equivalent to Title 24.
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Liquidator
Trusted Member
Look at this image with a keen eye
..
Notice anything? Over Islamabad I believe.
AZ_HighCountry
INT'L MOD
Yes sir. Saw it immediately.
agidest
Registered Member
It's sad to see you thanking the Chinese. It is one of the biggest reasons for the absolute crumbling of Pakistani industry.
If you did not have an FTA with China, and put duties on Chinese imports, the Pakistani entrepreneurs would have setup shops to cater to the demand and led to jobs and competitive solar manufacturing.
Now, you are a literal economic colony of China. They produce, you consume.
Not to mention that you have capacity payments to the power producers in Pakistan (both Chinese and Pakistani), which means regardless of whether you use energy from the grid, the Government has to pay for it. If you made your own panels, you would have at least generated an alternative industry which would contribute to jobs and economic growth of Pakistan instead of just consumption.
Now you pay the Chinese for both - energy you didn't use from their power plants as well as for solar panels.
Because regardless of whether citizens bother or not, they will pay for it via the Government. The Government gets it money by hook or crook from the people.
