Pakistan Solar Power: News & Updates

[ARMalik]

View attachment 178561

Dear Mod, kindly note that the tariff structure mentioned above is ALREADY IN PLACE IN MANY COUNTRIES SPECIALLY WESTERN Countries. So I am not sure why everytime Pakistan Govt does anything it becomes an issue.

Maybe most of us have forgotten why these Solar Panels and systems were introduced in the first place -- LET ME REMIND EVERYONE. IT WAS TO DEAL WITH THE CRIPPLING LOAD SHEDDING WHERE ORDINARY PEOPLE WERE WITHOUT ELECTRICITY FOR HOURS AND DAYS.

SOLAR WAS NOT INTRODUCED SO THAT EVERY DICK AND HARRY BECOMES A BUSINESSMAN BY SELLING ELECTRICITY TO THE GOVT AND NOT HAVE TO PAY FOR THE NETWORK CHARGES.

 

[chinasun]

Pakistan’s Solar Revolution: Who Really Benefits?​

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Pakistan’s Solar Boom: Now the 2nd Largest Power Source!​

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Pakistan's government-supplied electricity is costly, while household solar power is cheaper and environmentally friendly. Should distributed new energy gradually replace the national grid?

 

[Mr X]

He is right that many people are living in 20-30 crore rupee houses and pretend to not been able to afford basic amenities.

Solar energy has helped many people in Pakistan and without it, many people wouldn’t be able to eat as the rising electricity bill was too much.

Solar is must for middle class families in Pakistan these days if they can afford to spare 600k to 1 million rupees

 

[Watandar]

Encouraging residential solar power was one of the rare policies that succeeded beyond even the wildest projections of the govt. It provided enormous relief to consumers who could afford adding a solar power source to their homes, from the twin evils of power outages and extremely expensive electricity bills. The fact that you could also sell your electricity to the grid was a cherry on the top.

Solar power in Pakistan proved a victim of it's own success. Soon the bloated inefficient and expensive govt utilities were grappling with lower power demand as well as lower bills being charged to consumers, which was unacceptable as the utilities needed those expensive bills to pay back debt that was denominated in foreign currency. Hence the reversal of pro - solar policies since last year.

 

[hydrabadi_arab]

Cheap batteries are coming. Capacity payments will be reduced starting from 2027 as CPEC IPP debt is paid off.

Grid electricity will become cheaper.

Need to encourage EV adoption to reduce oil imports.

Save FX to spend on education, roads, hospitals and defence.

 

[Waz]

He is right that many people are living in 20-30 crore rupee houses and pretend to not been able to afford basic amenities.

Solar energy has helped many people in Pakistan and without it, many people wouldn’t be able to eat as the rising electricity bill was too much.

Solar is must for middle class families in Pakistan these days if they can afford to spare 600k to 1 million rupees

Encouraging solar power was one of the rare policies that succeeded beyond even the wildest projections of the govt. It provided enormous relief to consumers who could afford adding a solar power source to their homes, from the twin evils of power outages and extremely expensive electricity bills. The fact that you could also sell your electricity to the grid was a cherry on the top.

Pakistan sits in a high-irradiance zone (especially in Balochistan, Sindh, and southern Punjab) with long sunshine hours and high solar potential — estimates suggest solar could exceed millions of MW if fully exploited.

 

[SecularNationalist]

It's indeed a big revolution.
Since one year we had a solar system installed. Our electricity bill is negative 250K every month. Even with three 1.5 ton AC,s running all day. We have a net metering connection and we send excess electricity produced back to the grid.

 

[SecularNationalist]

He is right that many people are living in 20-30 crore rupee houses and pretend to not been able to afford basic amenities.

Solar energy has helped many people in Pakistan and without it, many people wouldn’t be able to eat as the rising electricity bill was too much.

Solar is must for middle class families in Pakistan these days if they can afford to spare 600k to 1 million rupees

Even if you can afford solar energy is the way forward as it's environment friendly and with batteries installed no dependency on your electricity supplier. No more load shedding.

 

[Mr X]

Encouraging solar power was one of the rare policies that succeeded beyond even the wildest projections of the govt. It provided enormous relief to consumers who could afford adding a solar power source to their homes, from the twin evils of power outages and extremely expensive electricity bills. The fact that you could also sell your electricity to the grid was a cherry on the top.

Solar power in Pakistan proved a victim of it's own success. Soon the bloated inefficient and expensive govt utilities were grappling with lower power demand as well as lower bills being charged to consumers, which was unacceptable as the utilities needed those expensive bills to pay back debt that was denominated in foreign currency. Hence the reversal of pro - solar policies since last year.

I do agree that 0% import duty helped achieve the goal, but it is largely due to incompetency of the government and rising energy costs, the fear factor led people to help themselves by investing in solar panels.

I know a family who used to receive an electricity bill of 90,000 rupees per month; they spent 1.5 million rupees to install panels and batteries, and their bill came down to 2500 rupees per month. The next-door neighbour received a bill of 40,000 rupees per month, but couldn't afford solar panels, so this family proposed the idea that if they only buy the extra battery + 2 panels, they will supply a connection to them so that they don't need to spend high cost, with the battery of 250,000 rupees and 2 extra panels installed in the power wall. The next month bill of neighbours dropped to about 2500 rupees as well.... i know sharing a connection is not allowed by law but it brought their bill down significantly and soon they intend to have their own solar system once they have saved enough.

the bottom line is, why pay 40,000 per month when you could spend 400,000 (in his case) or 1 million in most people's case and bring the bill down to 2500.

 

[SoulSpokesman]

@Waz sb

Pakistan sits in a high-irradiance zone with long sunshine hours and high solar potential — estimates suggest solar could exceed millions of MW if fully exploited.

Yes. And there are interesting possibilities. When it is late afternoon in Pak, it is evening in Eastern India and BD. And the excess power in Pak can be wheeled to eastern part of the subcontinent. As and when IND-PAK relations stabilise, there is a large export opportunity waiting for PAK.

Regards

 

[r3alist]

It's indeed a big revolution.
Since one year we had a solar system installed. Our electricity bill is negative 250K every month. Even with three 1.5 ton AC,s running all day. We have a net metering connection and we send excess electricity produced back to the grid.

It would be amazing if this could be distributed back to the poor so they can utilise it

 

[SoulSpokesman]

@r3alist bro

if this could be distributed back to the poor so they can utilise it

And who would pay for these units?

Regards

 

[r3alist]

@r3alist bro

if this could be distributed back to the poor so they can utilise it

And who would pay for these units?

Regards

That's why i said it would be an amazing thing to happen.

 

[Forsvaret]

Solar energy has helped many people in Pakistan and without it, many people wouldn’t be able to eat as the rising electricity bill was too much.

How come people living in Pakistan’s neighboring countries afford rising electricity bills without moving to solar? Maybe, it has something to do with long-term energy contracts negotiated by the powers that be?

 

[Forsvaret]

Solar power in Pakistan proved a victim of it's own success. Soon the bloated inefficient and expensive govt utilities were grappling with lower power demand as well as lower bills being charged to consumers, which was unacceptable as the utilities needed those expensive bills to pay back debt that was denominated in foreign currency.

So it was govt who did those long-term foreign currency denominated contracts with energy producers in the past? If that so, why are consumers made to pay for govt’s mistake?