Pakistan Solar Power: News & Updates

Power Division urges Nepra to abolish licence requirement, fee for solar consumers below 25kW​

Khaleeq Kiani
April 26, 2026

Facing severe public criticism for “taxing sunlight”, the Power Division on Sunday directed the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) to abolish the requirement of a licence and licence fee for solar prosumers below 25 kilowatt capacity.

In a statement issued on Sunday — a weekly holiday — the Power Division said that on the directives of Power Minister Awais Leghari, it has “formally asked Nepra for a review to abolish the application fee and remove the license requirement for solar consumers of 25 kilowatts and below”.

The Power Division recalled that it had previously alerted Nepra about the adverse effects of this decision and requested that it be aligned with the old regulations.
 

Why Pakistan Is Turning to Hybrid Solar Systems​


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In this episode of All Things Money, host Fatima Attarwala speaks with Ron Shen, Vice President of Hiconics (Midea’s renewable energy arm), about Pakistan’s fast-growing solar market and whether battery-backed hybrid systems could finally reduce load shedding.

With Pakistan facing up to 16 hours of power outages due to energy shortages and disrupted LNG imports during the Iran conflict, solar adoption has surged across the country. But most rooftop solar is still connected to the grid.

The conversation explores why hybrid solar systems with batteries are becoming the next big shift, how falling battery prices could accelerate energy independence, whether Pakistan could eventually manufacture solar technology locally, and why the country’s solar demand is now among the highest in the world.

Chapter Titles
00:00 Load Shedding and Solar
01:00 Pakistan’s Solar Demand
02:25 Rooftop Solar Shift
04:06 Net Metering to Billing
06:05 Why Batteries Matter
07:23 Falling Battery Costs
08:32 Reliance on China
10:34 Local Manufacturing?
15:17 Attracting Solar Investment
18:30 AI-Powered Solar
27:00 Hybrid Solar Demand
31:43 Iran War and Solar
38:36 Pakistan’s Solar Market
 

Nepra scraps fees, restores licence exemption for solar users below 25kW​


Move follows Power Division’s request to review rules after concerns over impact on consumers

Web Desk
April 28, 2026

photo file


The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Tuesday scrapped fees and restored a licensing exemption for solar consumers with systems under 25 kilowatts (kW).

According to a notification issued today, under the revised framework, no fee or licence will be required for solar consumers with systems below 25kW.

However, users installing systems above this threshold will be subject to a one-time fee of Rs1,000 per kW. The notification stated that the decision would apply retrospectively from February 9 of this year.

The move comes after the Power Division formally approached Nepra on Sunday, seeking a review of its regulations and calling for the removal of fees and licensing requirements for small-scale solar consumers. The request followed a directive from Energy Minister Awais Leghari.

The Power Division noted that it had earlier flagged the adverse impact of the new rules and urged the regulator to align them with the previous framework.
 
Leghari said the government was “pro-solar, pro-consumer, and committed to clean energy,” adding that efforts were underway to remove unnecessary barriers, reduce costs, and provide maximum relief to the public.

Under the 2015 regulations, solar systems with a capacity of 25kW or less did not require a Nepra licence. Applications in this category were processed directly by distribution companies without any fee, offering a significant financial incentive for domestic consumers.

However, the subsequent “prosumer regulations” centralised approval authority with Nepra, even for small-scale installations, and introduced application fees.

The proposed regulations drew criticism from consumers and industry stakeholders, with the Private Power and Infrastructure Board also warning against the regulatory shift.
 
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Tuesday withdrew ab initio the requirement of a licence along with a fee of Rs1,000 per kilowatt for solar net-metering consumers for up to 25kW capacity.

The development came two days after the Power Division, facing severe public criticism for “taxing sunlight”, directed Nepra to abolish the requirement of a licence and licence fee for solar prosumers below 25 kilowatt capacity.

Read more: https://www.dawn.com/news/1995812
 
A system that refuses to shift

If solar is expanding as quickly as it appears, the expectation would be that the broader energy system would begin to shift with it. But that has not quite happened.

The most visible change has been at the consumer level, rooftops and small commercial setups across urban centres. Beneath that, however, the structure of the system has remained largely the same.

According to Dr Kaleem Ullah, Associate Professor at the Energy Center at the University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar, the core architecture of Pakistan’s power system has not really shifted despite the rise in solar adoption.

“The most important unchanged feature is that Pakistan still runs on a centralised, fossil-heavy, capacity-payment-based power system,” he said. “As of March 2025, thermal power still made up about 55.7 per cent of installed capacity, and remained the single largest block in actual generation as well.”

Alongside that is a set of structural issues that have persisted for years. “Transmission and distribution losses remain extremely high, circular debt has climbed to around Rs2.39 trillion, and the system is operating at barely a third of its installed capacity,” he explained. “So solar has grown, but the basic architecture has not yet been transformed.”

This gap between visible growth and underlying change is where much of the confusion around the solar transition begins. At one level, more solar capacity should reduce reliance on fossil fuels. In practice, the system still leans heavily on them, and for reasons that go beyond electricity alone.
 
“Fossil fuel dominance persists for three reasons: legacy assets, system operations, and end-use dependence,” Dr Kaleem said. “The grid still needs dispatchable power for evening peaks, and beyond electricity, the wider energy economy continues to run on oil, gas, and coal.”

That distinction matters. Even if solar expands within the power sector, large parts of the economy, transport, industry, and household energy use, remain tied to conventional fuels.

“The hardest sectors to transition are transport, heavy industry, and residential gas use,” he said. “Solar can replace daytime electricity relatively quickly, but it cannot easily replace diesel for transport or gas for household demand.”

In that sense, the shift toward solar is happening, but within limits set by a system built around a very different set of assumptions.

Which brings the focus back to a deeper question. If solar is clearly picking up, but the system itself has not shifted with it, then what is actually slowing this transition down? Where does the bottleneck lie, in cost, policy, or the structure of the system itself?
 
Transition helps, not fixes

For many households and businesses, the benefits of solar are already visible. Lower daytime electricity bills, some protection from tariff increases, and a degree of independence from an unreliable grid have made it an increasingly practical option.

But beyond that immediate relief, the picture begins to change. According to Dr Kaleem, the way solar is often discussed in Pakistan tends to blur an important distinction between individual benefit and system-wide impact.

“Yes, but only if energy security is being looked at too narrowly,” he said. “Solar improves resilience for households and firms by lowering daytime electricity costs and reducing exposure to tariff shocks.”

That improvement, however, operates within a limited window. “At the system level, solar alone does not solve evening peak demand, grid instability, circular debt, transmission congestion, or fossil dependence in transport and industry.”
 
This gap between what solar can do at the consumer level and what it cannot do at the system level is where expectations begin to diverge. A growing share of electricity during the day may come from solar, but the grid still has to meet demand after sunset and support sectors tied to conventional fuels.

“Higher shares of solar and wind are achievable,” Dr Kaleem noted, “but only with investment in transmission, system flexibility, forecasting, operational reforms, and storage.”

Even then, deeper financial pressures remain. “More renewable energy does not, by itself, reduce the capacity charges tied to existing conventional plants,” he said.

Taken together, this suggests that solar is doing what it is meant to do, but within limits that are often overlooked. It is helping consumers manage costs, but it is not, on its own, fixing the deeper structural issues of the energy system.

Which then leads to the next question: what exactly is preventing this transition from moving beyond these constraints?
 
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Doubling down on lithium

Pakistan’s battery demand is low, but if EVs, solar storage, and grid applications take off, total demand across sectors could grow to tens of GWh over the next decade.
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Doubling down on lithium
 
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Salt firm transitions to hybrid solar-battery system​


Initiative will save 360,000 litres of diesel imports annually, ease pressure on forex

Ehtesham Mufti
May 07, 2026

tribune


KARACHI: In a move towards industrial energy self-reliance, Pakistan's HubSalt has signed a first-of-its-kind agreement with Chinese firm Livoltec to install a hybrid solar and battery storage system. The agreement was signed in Karachi by Hub Salt CEO Ismail Sattar and Livoltec's Asia-Pacific Director Max Ma.

Under the agreement, the project will be executed on an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) basis, with responsibility assigned to Optimizen, which will work in collaboration with its Chinese technology partner Livoltec.

The project involves installation of a 1.44-megawatt solar photovoltaic (PV) system integrated with a 2.35MW-hour battery energy storage system (BESS). This initiative will significantly reduce the company's reliance on imported diesel.
 
"April solar panel imports at $174 mn are the highest in 10 months. Fiscal year imports are still going to be half of last year. Total cumulative capacity imported stands at 54,000 MW."
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