Pakistan Solar Power: News & Updates

[Waz]

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.

Thanking them for bringing the cost of purchasing such panels down, which were previously out of the reach for poor folk. That's called common sense.
Pakistani solar industry wasn't substantial for anything to be wreaked. Now with demand it can spur the domestic industry to act.
Pakistan isn't an economic colony anymore than you are of theirs, your own citizens benefit greatly from cheap Chinese goods;

Read;

Can India Inc extricate itself from China?

Narendra Modi is testing a wide array of economic weapons

www.economist.com

I did mention the damage to centralized power generation.

 

[agidest]

Thanking them for bringing the cost of purchasing such panels down, which were previously out of the reach for poor folk. That's called common sense.
Pakistani solar industry wasn't substantial for anything to be wreaked. Now with demand it can spur the domestic industry to act.
Pakistan isn't an economic colony anymore than you are of theirs, your own citizens benefit greatly from cheap Chinese goods;

Read;

Can India Inc extricate itself from China?

Narendra Modi is testing a wide array of economic weapons

www.economist.com

I did mention the damage to centralized power generation.

I'm sorry but it seems you don't quite understand economics.

Solar industry is one example. It's not about whether you already had one that you needed to protect. The point is you see an obvious demand and therefore opportunity to set the industry up. You see this over and over again across all industries in Pakistan. One after another decimated because of Chinese imports. Protecting and then growing industries is what's common sense. It is literally what China did for itself.

There is a big difference in how India treats China and how you do. We chose not to sign an FTA with them in any form (bilateral or multilateral) and that means that we constantly put tarriffs on them and encourage manufacturing here. An example is the Phone. Chinese manufacturer's have had to setup shop in India to sell here. We try our best to limit imports to capital goods (i.e. goods used to manufacture other goods) or raw materials.

Another is steel, off and on we put duties to ensure Indian manufacturer's have space to continue growing and inventive to invest further. This is a constant battle. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. But we cannot afford to let up on it. It seems you are not even interested in industrializing and developing Pakistan.

 

[lightning f57]

I'm sorry but it seems you don't quite understand economics.

Solar industry is one example. It's not about whether you already had one that you needed to protect. The point is you see an obvious demand and therefore opportunity to set the industry up. You see this over and over again across all industries in Pakistan. One after another decimated because of Chinese imports. Protecting and then growing industries is what's common sense. It is literally what China did for itself.

There is a big difference in how India treats China and how you do. We chose not to sign an FTA with them in any form (bilateral or multilateral) and that means that we constantly put tarriffs on them and encourage manufacturing here. An example is the Phone. Chinese manufacturer's have had to setup shop in India to sell here. We try our best to limit imports to capital goods (i.e. goods used to manufacture other goods) or raw materials.

Another is steel, off and on we put duties to ensure Indian manufacturer's have space to continue growing and inventive to invest further. This is a constant battle. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. But we cannot afford to let up on it. It seems you are not even interested in industrializing and developing Pakistan.

Pakistan is very inefficient in many areas unfortunately, let's say tarrifs are in place on China the corrupt lesders would likely pocket the earned taxes. Pakistan needs to create an industry before it can look to protect something, in the meantime the common person on the street has potentially access to solar power which can have a multiplying affect across the country as power issues have plagued them for decades. Untold billions have been lost.

 

[Waz]

I'm sorry but it seems you don't quite understand economics.

Solar industry is one example. It's not about whether you already had one that you needed to protect. The point is you see an obvious demand and therefore opportunity to set the industry up. You see this over and over again across all industries in Pakistan. One after another decimated because of Chinese imports. Protecting and then growing industries is what's common sense. It is literally what China did for itself.

There is a big difference in how India treats China and how you do. We chose not to sign an FTA with them in any form (bilateral or multilateral) and that means that we constantly put tarriffs on them and encourage manufacturing here. An example is the Phone. Chinese manufacturer's have had to setup shop in India to sell here. We try our best to limit imports to capital goods (i.e. goods used to manufacture other goods) or raw materials.

Another is steel, off and on we put duties to ensure Indian manufacturer's have space to continue growing and inventive to invest further. This is a constant battle. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. But we cannot afford to let up on it. It seems you are not even interested in industrializing and developing Pakistan.

Yes I do, you evidently don't, and it's always the one to point at someone's supposed lack of knowledge who has no idea what he is going on about.
We were focussing on Solar that's what the topic is about, then you started ranting about Pakistan is China's colony.

The demand for solar was minimal due to the lack of products available to facilitate power generation via solar means. Demand only increased when such products became visible and accounts of how people in Bangladesh were using them. This prompted Chinese firms to move into a market which at that point in time was in its infancy, it's called 'first mover advantage', as at the time, no Pakistani firm was making such products.
I do agree that infant industries should be protected, but this wasn't the case here. Pakistan can't compete in the same markets as China does, it doesn't have the industrial base, it needs to be more niche. Western states and Eastern states have fallen foul of this.
You putting tariffs on nations is the very antithesis of the free market system, and you claim to have a firm understanding of economics here. The US has just slapped 10% on you and are now demanding a 0 for 0 deal or face hikes. Tariffs work for the short-term but in the long-term they hurt your economy, as you find yourselves facing an increasing economic cost i.e. tariffing in order to save some sectors, but being hit with retaliatory tariffs which hurt other sectors. Why do you think so many nations sign agreements lowering/eliminating tariffs with the most prominent as follows; such as African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA),Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), European Union (EU) Single Market, ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Free Trade Agreements.
Limiting imports to capital goods is a good strategy, but you find yourselves at odds when you have a growing market which demand consumer goods your nation can't produce. You should know this considering India has a trade deficit with China which stands at $100 billion dollars.
You also have a trade deficit with 9 of your top ten trading partners.
In your own words sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, I agree that is the nature of trade.
As for industrialising Pakistan, I wish I could, I'm not the decision maker, and it's being run for short term gains.

 

[Starlord]

Have been hearing from my parents how they see more and more houses in Gulshan-e-Iqbal putting Solar panels, a decent set up that can run all your hard hitters like Refrigerator, AC , Water motors and microwaves is costing around 15-25 lacs, around 600-800$, given a small 120 gaz house electricity bill is around 40-55 thousand PKR, its not a bad investment, I am also asking my parents to explore and think about putting in the solar panels. Gotta make sure my family has at least more stuff before more crazy things happen in US, and have to go back

 

[ghazi52]

As of March 2025, Pakistan had 4.9GW of net-metered solar installed—excluding untracked behind-the-meter setups, says the Pakistan Electricity Review 2025, which assesses FY24 power sector performance.

 

[ghazi52]

China exports more solar panels to Pakistan than to many G20 nations in 5 years: report​

Rehan Ayub
June 4, 2025

China exported more solar panels to Pakistan than to many G20 nations, with over 16 gigawatts (GW) imported in 2024 alone, a research report stated on Wednesday.

The G20 (Group of Twenty) is an intergovernmental forum of 19 countries and the European Union, representing the world’s largest economies.

The report titled ‘Leader of One or Leader of None - China’s Choice for Clean over Coal in Pakistan’ published by think tank Renewables First said more than 39GW of solar panels, nearly all from China, entered Pakistan in the last five years.

These solar panels are “enough to exceed three-quarters of Pakistan’s installed national generation capacity”, the report said.

The report unpacked this transformation, highlighting China’s role in the Global South.

“The exit of the United States from the Paris Agreements threw international climate action into a state of frenzy, with the world left speculating who, if anyone, might step in to lead the efforts against climate change,” it said.

China is now a global powerhouse in clean energy manufacturing. It is supplying tools in the form of renewable energy technologies that much of the world is using to fight climate change, according to the report.

There has been an energy shift in Pakistan in the form of what the think tank called a ‘Solar Rush’, which is driven “not by government declarations or boardroom decisions, but by rooftops, farms, and factory sheds”.

The report demystified the ‘Solar Rush’, dissecting how one of the world’s fastest-growing, people-led solar markets materialised not through grand strategy, but through open competition, favorable trade policy, and a flood of low-priced technology.

Yet as solar thrived, coal investments began turning into high-risk assets, with the country still hosting billions of dollars in Chinese-financed coal-fired power plants, the report said.

As solar slashed grid demand and made self-generation more viable, these legacy plants, once seen as anchors of energy security, have began to sink.

“Utilisation of these power plants fell to as low as 4% in some projects by 2024. Capacity payments ballooned. And electricity from the grid grew more expensive for those still reliant on it,” the report.

“China’s solar panels are outcompeting China’s power plants,” said Muhammad Basit Ghauri, lead author of the report. “What we are seeing is an unintentional but profound strategic contradiction. And Pakistan is ground zero for this global experiment in energy disruption.”

With distributed solar now displacing centralised generation, Pakistan does not just need panels. It needs storage systems, grid upgrades, local manufacturing, financing tools, and a pathway to move away from stranded coal assets, the report said.

“Pakistan may be the first to experience this clash between legacy coal and democratised solar at this scale, but it will not be the last. If China gets this right, it will not just lead to Pakistan’s energy transition. It will prove itself as the architect of a new Global South energy paradigm, one that is fast, fair, and truly transformative,” the report envisaged.

 

[ghazi52]

Pakistan’s solar revolution leaves its middle class behind​

Reuters

KARACHI: Amid the forty-degree heat that paralysed the coastal city of Karachi in April, Saad Saleem blasted his air-conditioning with near-abandon.

Electricity tariffs have surged, but the affluent entrepreneur has been unbothered since he spent $7,500 installing solar panels on his bungalow’s roof as part of a solar boom in Pakistan.

Saleem bought his modules two years ago, as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and economically beleaguered Pakistan were hammering out a preliminary bailout programme.

Under the deal, Pakistan sharply raised power and gas tariffs to support struggling suppliers in the heavily-indebted sector.

Pakistanis now pay more than a quarter more on average for electricity, setting off a scramble to install solar modules.

Solar made up over 14% of Pakistan’s power supply last year, up from 4% in 2021 and displacing coal as the third-largest energy source, according to UK energy think-tank Ember.

That is nearly double the share in China, the world’s top supplier of solar panels and a global leader in green technologies, and one of the highest rates in Asia, according to Reuters’ analysis of Ember data.

But the explosion in solar uptake has left out many in Pakistan’s struggling urban middle class, who have been forced to cut back on electricity in face of soaring bills, according to interviews with more than two dozen people, including energy officials, consumers and power-sector analysts.

 

[ghazi52]

Despite being a low-income country plagued by economic and social issues, a green revolution is taking place in Pakistan and the South Asian country has quietly emerged as one of the world’s largest markets for the growing solar industry.

According to the Global Electricity Review 2025 by Ember, an energy think tank in the UK, Pakistan imported 17 giga-watts (GW) of solar panels in 2024, joining the ranks of leading solar nations.

“Solar is now so cheap that large markets can emerge in the space of a single year - as evidenced in Pakistan in 2024,” read the report.

“Amid high electricity prices linked to expensive contracts with privately-owned thermal power stations, rooftop solar installations in Pakistan’s homes and businesses soared as a means of accessing lower-cost power.”

As per the report, global solar generation increased by nearly a third, becoming the largest source of new electricity.

 

[ghazi52]

The figures are far higher than the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) numbers released earlier, which shared that the total installed solar capacity in Pakistan grew from 321 MW in 2021 to 4,124 MW by December 2024.

Meanwhile, there has been a growing shift towards alternative energy sources in Pakistan, especially solar, which has become increasingly popular among residential and commercial sectors.

This rising trend has left policymakers grappling with its implications for the national grid and energy sector, as electricity consumption remains stagnant.

Nonetheless, several projects have been initiated and dozens of companies have installed solar power systems to exploit this relatively cheaper energy source.

 

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[ghazi52]

UK energy think tank noted that Pakistan’s case “shows that the low-cost, fast-to build nature of solar power can transform electricity systems at an unprecedented rate”.

However, Ember cautioned that updated system planning and regulatory frameworks are essential alongside panel deployment to ensure a sustainable and managed transition.

 

[ghazi52]

Pakistan imports 32.8GW of solar PV modules in 5 years​

It is estimated that only half of the total imported capacity is currently installed across the country.

Batteries reshaping energy landscape​

Shahid Iqbal
June 7, 2025

KARACHI: The growing adoption of battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Pakistan is set to reshape the energy landscape — enabling a more decentralised and consumer-centric system, even as it poses significant challenges to the existing grid infrastructure.

This was highlighted in a report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), titled “Battery Storage and the Future of Pakistan’s Electricity Grid”. According to the report, the adoption of BESS is being driven by both off-grid and on-grid solar photovoltaic (PV) installations. Pakistan imported 27.6 gigawatts of solar PV modules between FY19 and FY24, with an additional 5.2GW imported in the first half of FY25.

However, it is estimated that only half of the total imported capacity is currently installed across the country, and at least 11.5GW of this capacity exists off-grid. “It is unlikely that all rooftop and captive solar consumers will adopt battery storage systems because of the high upfront costs,” said the report.

If all existing net metering capacity were paired with equal-sized battery storage systems, it could reduce annual electricity demand from the grid by 1.5 terawatt-hours (TWh) or 1.1 per cent of the country’s demand.

Pakistan imported 32.8GW of solar PV modules in five years

Similarly, commercial enterprises like office spaces, which operate from 9am to 5pm, may not require battery storage at night. Assuming a conservative estimate where only 25pc of the energy produced by the imported solar panel capacity is stored, annual grid demand could be reduced by 11.5TWh, or 8.4pc of Pakistan’s actual demand.

The convergence of rising energy prices and falling costs for distributed energy resources (DER), such as rooftop solar PV systems and BESS, have encouraged consumers to adopt decentralised energy solutions, reducing reliance on the grid and energy costs. “Pakistan imported an estimated 1.25 gigawatt-hours of lithium-ion battery packs in 2024 and another 400 megawatt-hours in the first two months of 2025, a trend that is likely to continue,” said the report.

Pakistan’s growing adoption of battery storage is supported by lithium-ion battery imports from China — the global leader in BESS technology and production.

China’s abundant clean technology manufacturing capacity is forecast to continue expanding, further driving down prices. Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) predicts batteries will cross the $100/MWh threshold in 2025, while global benchmarks for wind and solar generation are also expected to decline.

“BNEF’s projections for global levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) benchmarks for battery storage in 2035 show an almost 50pc drop, with storage costs declining to $53/MWh,” said the report.

While solar PV module prices in Pakistan have consistently declined, emulating improving economics in China, the same is not true for BESS because of high taxes and customs duties.

“The average price of lithium-ion battery packs in Pakistan ranges between $230/kWh and $360/kWh,” said the report. It added that on a macro level, the falling demand from the grid has led to financial losses and increased capacity payments for the government and remaining consumers.

“The country’s rapid adoption of solar PV systems has already started impacting centralised grid generation. As more consumers shift to net metering and self-generation, the overall electricity demand from the national grid has started declining,” said the report.

However, due to contractual obligations resulting from long-term power purchase agreements, the exit of paying consumers from the grid increases the financial burden on remaining users through higher fixed costs and capacity payments.

A more direct way of assessing BESS adoption is by examining lithium-ion battery storage imports. According to analysis by IEEFA, around 1.25GWh of lithium-ion battery storage packs were imported into Pakistan in 2024.

“This accounts for around 4.7pc of that year’s 25.6GW annual peak demand. Based on a daily charging-discharging cycle, installing the entire 1.25GWh of battery storage could mean a yearly deduction of 438GWh of energy demand from the grid,” said the report.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2025

 

[ghazi52]

Batteries reshaping energy landscape​

Staff Reporter | Dawn
Jun 8, 2025

The growing adoption of battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Pakistan is set to reshape the energy landscape — enabling a more decentralised and consumer-centric system, even as it poses significant challenges to the existing grid infrastructure.

This was highlighted in a report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), titled “Battery Storage and the Future of Pakistan’s Electricity Grid”. According to the report, the adoption of BESS is being driven by both off-grid and on-grid solar photovoltaic (PV) installations. Pakistan imported 27.6 gigawatts of solar PV modules between FY19 and FY24, with an additional 5.2GW imported in the first half of FY25.

However, it is estimated that only half of the total imported capacity is currently installed across the country, and at least 11.5GW of this capacity exists off-grid. “It is unlikely that all rooftop and captive solar consumers will adopt battery storage systems because of the high upfront costs,” said the report.

If all existing net metering capacity were paired with equal-sized battery storage systems, it could reduce annual electricity demand from the grid by 1.5 terawatt-hours (TWh) or 1.1 per cent of the country’s demand.

Similarly, commercial enterprises like office spaces, which operate from 9am to 5pm, may not require battery storage at night. Assuming a conservative estimate where only 25pc of the energy produced by the imported solar panel capacity is stored, annual grid demand could be reduced by 11.5TWh, or 8.4pc of Pakistan’s actual demand.

The convergence of rising energy prices and falling costs for distributed energy resources (DER), such as rooftop solar PV systems and BESS, have encouraged consumers to adopt decentralised energy solutions, reducing reliance on the grid and energy costs. “Pakistan imported an estimated 1.25 gigawatt-hours of lithium-ion battery packs in 2024 and another 400 megawatt-hours in the first two months of 2025, a trend that is likely to continue,” said the report.

The convergence of rising energy prices and falling costs for distributed energy resources (DER), such as rooftop solar PV systems and BESS, have encouraged consumers to adopt decentralised energy solutions, reducing reliance on the grid and energy costs. “Pakistan imported an estimated 1.25 gigawatt-hours of lithium-ion battery packs in 2024 and another 400 megawatt-hours in the first two months of 2025, a trend that is likely to continue,” said the report.

The convergence of rising energy prices and falling costs for distributed energy resources (DER), such as rooftop solar PV systems and BESS, have encouraged consumers to adopt decentralised energy solutions, reducing reliance on the grid and energy costs. “Pakistan imported an estimated 1.25 gigawatt-hours of lithium-ion battery packs in 2024 and another 400 megawatt-hours in the first two months of 2025, a trend that is likely to continue,” said the report.

“This accounts for around 4.7pc of that year’s 25.6GW annual peak demand. Based on a daily charging-discharging cycle, installing the entire 1.25GWh of battery storage could mean a yearly deduction of 438GWh of energy demand from the grid,” said the report.

 

[ghazi52]

Pakistan on the way to Solar Power Leader: ☀

Pakistan’s solar growth is outpacing the global average by 3x this year!
Solar capacity imports up 5x since 2022
Now Pakistan’s #1 electricity source (up from 5th in 2023)