Pakistan Solar Power: News & Updates

[Fatman17]

Govt orders solar backlog clearance

Power Division directs Discos to resolve 1,355 pending net-metering cases within 10 days.

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[Fatman17]

FBR records a 30% decline in electricity withholding tax collection from Karachi during FY2025-26 as rising solar energy adoption and lower electricity consumption reduce tax receipts.

Read More: https://taxationpk.com/fbr-faces-30-decline-in-electricity-withholding-tax-collection/

 

[Aliso5]

Work is in progress on those fronts as well.

China Pakistan Launch 6,000-Acre Solar Plan - The Daily CPEC

China and Pakistan have jointly highlighted a 6,000-acre investment proposal as a Chinese energy delegation expressed strong interest in developing a large solar manufacturing base in Pakistan. Officials said the project would meet rising domestic demand for renewable solutions while aiming to...

thedailycpec.com

Pakistan says China’s Dongjin Group to invest $15 million in battery plant in Faisalabad

ISLAMABAD: Chinese company Dongjin Group recently announced its plan to invest $15 million in a dry battery facility in the eastern city of Faisalabad, state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported on Monday. Dongjin Group designs, manufactures and sells lead acid batteries and chargers...

www.arabnews.com

This Lead acid batteries are old Gen. LFP batteries are more suitable for Home and commercial ESS application.

 

[Samurai]

View attachment 198342
FBR records a 30% decline in electricity withholding tax collection from Karachi during FY2025-26 as rising solar energy adoption and lower electricity consumption reduce tax receipts.

Read More: https://taxationpk.com/fbr-faces-30-decline-in-electricity-withholding-tax-collection/

Good, the more they try to leech off people with taxes/utility bills without providing cheap and reliable electricity, the more people should switch to solar so that these sinking ships of corrupt and inefficient corporations like K-Electric are forced to change their ways, otherwise they will go bankrupt.

 

[RealNapster]

Good, the more they try to leech off people with taxes/utility bills without providing cheap and reliable electricity, the more people should switch to solar so that these sinking ships of corrupt and inefficient corporations like K-Electric are forced to change their ways, otherwise they will go bankrupt.

But the problem with residents of big cities like Karachi is that they usually don't have an open roof. As almost half of city lives in multi-unit and multi-storey buildings.

What this will result in is 1) freedom of those from KESC who have their own roof. But 2) doubled taxation and financial pressure on those who don't have a roof to put solar cells on.

 

[hydrabadi_arab]

But the problem with residents of big cities like Karachi is that they usually don't have an open roof. As almost half of city lives in multi-unit and multi-storey buildings.

What this will result in is 1) freedom of those from KESC who have their own roof. But 2) doubled taxation and financial pressure on those who don't have a roof to put solar cells on.

Grid electricity will eventually become cheap, in like 5-7 years. As no more IPPs are coming online and old ones are slowly being phased out or their debt being paid off. Solar backed grid will provide cheap electricity rate in day time for all including those in apartments will be able to store in battery for night use.

The only problem for apartments is they will have to wait almost a decade before enjoying fruits of cheap electricity.

 

[RealNapster]

Grid electricity will eventually become cheap, in like 5-7 years. As no more IPPs are coming online and old ones are slowly being phased out or their debt being paid off. Solar backed grid will provide cheap electricity rate in day time for all including those in apartments will be able to store in battery for night use.

The only problem for apartments is they will have to wait almost a decade before enjoying fruits of cheap electricity.

The problem is not just IPPs. All of the new power plants that we added in last 5 years or will be adding. Electricity production from none of them is less than 15-20 rupees per unit. Government will add 576 types of taxes over this as price as well. All were signed in dollar terms (8 cents or 10 or 12 or 15 cents per unit) so there is also that risk of rupee devalue causing firther pressure on consimers.

So we will never see the unit price reducing to "lets say 25" in comparison to today's 55-60 rupees per unit.

Also, in 5-6 years, solar and batteries will be so cheap that no one would even bother caring about DESCOS and their pathetic services.

 

[Pakistan Space Agency]

Good, the more they try to leech off people with taxes/utility bills without providing cheap and reliable electricity, the more people should switch to solar so that these sinking ships of corrupt and inefficient corporations like K-Electric are forced to change their ways, otherwise they will go bankrupt.

I don't think the Government is trying to force anyone to use electricity from K-Electric and others, instead they're trying to make it easier for people to adapt to solar.

Other Governments use tariffs and other means to prevent large imports of solar or make solar expensive so it's not affordable for most people.

 

[hydrabadi_arab]

The problem is not just IPPs. All of the new power plants that we added in last 5 years or will be adding. Electricity production from none of them is less than 15-20 rupees per unit. Government will add 576 types of taxes over this as price as well. All were signed in dollar terms (8 cents or 10 or 12 or 15 cents per unit) so there is also that risk of rupee devalue causing firther pressure on consimers.

So we will never see the unit price reducing to "lets say 25" in comparison to today's 55-60 rupees per unit.

Also, in 5-6 years, solar and batteries will be so cheap that no one would even bother caring about DESCOS and their pathetic services.

I think grid electricity will be Rs25/unit by 2035 including taxes etc

For example the dreaded Sahiwal coal power plant cost would be Rs21 today at 85% utilization if there was no debt. And hopefully its converted to local coal so no more external price shocks.

Then you add Rs5-10 per unit from dams and solar. Govt will be able to average out Rs25 or even less provided coal plants are utilized 85% of the time.

 

[RealNapster]

I think grid electricity will be Rs25/unit by 2035 including taxes etc

For example the dreaded Sahiwal coal power plant cost would be Rs21 today at 85% utilization if there was no debt. And hopefully its converted to local coal so no more external price shocks.

Then you add Rs5-10 per unit from dams and solar. Govt will be able to average out Rs25 or even less provided coal plants are utilized 85% of the time.

A lot of hopefulness there.

 

[Fatman17]

Lithium batteries: Solar’s Second Act

Pakistan’s solar story is no longer about explosive takeoff. That phase is over. What comes next may prove even more...

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[ghazi52]

Lithium batteries: Solar’s Second Act​

BR
May 25, 2026



Pakistan’s solar story is no longer about explosive takeoff. That phase is over. What comes next may prove even more consequential.

By the end of 10MFY26, Pakistan’s cumulative solar panel imports had reached 54,711MW, quietly surpassing the country’s entire grid-based installed power capacity from just a year ago. The sheer scale is staggering for a market that, until recently, was still being treated as a fringe energy alternative.

The frenzy, however, has cooled.

Solar panel imports during 10MFY26 stood close to 7,600MW, nearly half the 14,500MW imported during the same period last year. On the surface, that may look like a sharp slowdown. In reality, it resembles the natural transition from hypergrowth to consolidation.

 

[ghazi52]

The base is now massive. Rooftops across urban Pakistan have already been saturated by early adopters, industrial users, commercial consumers, and households desperate to escape ever-rising grid tariffs. The exponential curve was never going to sustain indefinitely. But the direction of travel remains unchanged.

Solar is no longer a trend. It is infrastructure.Much attention has recently centred around the revised net metering regime, which materially alters project economics for new users. Payback periods that once hovered under two years for many consumers are now stretching toward five to six years in several cases.

The policy shift undoubtedly dents the attractiveness of new on-grid installations.

Yet the assumption that net metering alone drove Pakistan’s solar boom misses the larger story.

 

[ghazi52]

The real engine behind adoption was always behind-the-meter economics. Consumers were reacting to expensive and unreliable grid electricity, not merely chasing lucrative buyback rates. A significant portion of installations never depended heavily on exporting excess power back to the grid in the first place. Energy security, bill reduction, and operational continuity mattered far more.

That underlying logic has not disappeared.

If anything, the market now appears to be entering its next evolutionary phase: storage.

The lithium-ion battery import trend is beginning to reveal where consumer behaviour is heading. April 2026 recorded the highest-ever monthly battery imports at nearly $48 million. On paper, the numbers may still appear modest relative to the scale of solar panel imports. But the trajectory is difficult to ignore.

Battery imports in FY26 are on track to approach $250 million, nearly six times the level seen in FY23.

 

[ghazi52]

That is not noise.Consumers increasingly understand that the economics of solar are changing. If excess daytime generation cannot be exported at highly attractive rates, the next best alternative is obvious: store it.

For households and businesses alike, battery systems offer greater self-consumption, reduced dependence on the grid during peak tariff hours, backup during outages, and a pathway toward deeper energy autonomy.

In many ways, batteries solve the very problem that revised net metering economics created.