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Economic Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Pakistan's quiet solar rush puts pressure on national grid
Live Events The great Solar rush Disconnected from the public (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Pakistanis are increasingly ditching the national grid in favour of solar power, prompting a boom in rooftop panels and spooking a government weighed down by billions of dollars of power sector quiet energy revolution has spread from wealthy neighbourhoods to middle- and lower-income households as customers look to escape soaring electricity bills and prolonged power a cramped alley in Pakistan's megacity of Karachi, residents fighting the sweltering summer heat gather in Fareeda Saleem's modest home for something they never experienced before -- uninterrupted power."Solar makes life easier, but it's a hard choice for people like us," she says of the installation was cut from the grid last year for refusing to pay her bills in protest over enduring 18-hour power cuts.A widow and mother of two disabled children, she sold her jewellery -- a prized possession for women in Pakistan -- and borrowed money from relatives to buy two solar panels, a solar inverter and battery to store energy, for 180,000 rupees ($630).As temperatures pass 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), children duck under Saleem's door and gather around the breeze of her on poles above homes, solar panels have become a common sight across the country of 240 million people, with the installation cost typically recovered within two to five up less than two percent of the energy mix in 2020, solar power reached 10.3 percent in 2024, according to the global energy think tank in a remarkable acceleration, it more than doubled to 24 percent in the first five months of 2025, becoming the largest source of energy production for the first has edged past gas, coal and nuclear electricity sources, as well as hydropower which has seen hundreds of millions of dollars of investment over the past a result, Pakistan has unexpectedly surged towards its target of renewable energy, making up 60 percent of its energy mix by Jones, chief analyst at Ember, told AFP that Pakistan was "a leader in rooftop solar".Soaring fuel costs globally, coupled with demands from the International Monetary Fund to slash government subsidies, led successive administrations to repeatedly hike electricity have fluctuated since 2022 but peaked at a 155-percent increase and power bills sometimes outweigh the cost of rent."The great solar rush is not the result of any government's policy push," Muhammad Basit Ghauri, an energy transition expert at Renewables First, told AFP."Residents have taken the decision out of clear frustration over our classical power system, which is essentially based on a lot of inefficiencies."Pakistan sources most of its solar equipment from neighbouring China, where prices have dropped sharply, largely driven by overproduction and tech the fall in national grid consumers has crept up on an unprepared government burdened by $8 billion of power sector debt, analysts depends heavily on costly gas imports,which it sells at a loss to national energy is also tied into lengthy contracts with independent power producers, including some owned by China, for which it pays a fixed amount regardless of actual demand.A government report in March said the solar power increase has created a "disproportionate financial burden onto grid consumers, contributing to higher electricity tariffs and undermining the sustainability of the energy sector".Electricity sales dropped 2.8 percent year-on-year in June, marking a second consecutive year of month, the government imposed a new 10-percent tax on all imported solar, while the energy ministry has proposed slashing the rate at which it buys excess solar energy from consumers."The household solar boom was a response to a crisis, not the cause of it," said analyst Jones, warning of "substantial problems for the grid" including a surge during evenings when solar users who cannot store energy return to traditional national grid is losing paying customers like businessman Arsalan Arif.A third of his income was spent on electricity bills at his Karachi home until he bought a 10-kilowatt solar panel for around 1.4 million rupees (around $4,900)."Before, I didn't follow a timetable. I was always disrupted by the power outages," he told he has "freedom and certainty" to continue his catering the eastern city of Sialkot, safety wear manufacturer Hammad Noor switched to solar power in 2023, calling it his "best business decision", breaking even in 18 months and now saving 1 million rupees every cost of converting Noor's second factory has now risen by nearly 1.5 million rupees under the new government tax."The tax imposed is unfair and gives an advantage to big businesses over smaller ones," he said."Policymakers seem completely disconnected from the public and business community."
Time of India
6 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Pakistan's quiet solar rush puts pressure on national grid
Live Events The great Solar rush Disconnected from the public (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Pakistanis are increasingly ditching the national grid in favour of solar power, prompting a boom in rooftop panels and spooking a government weighed down by billions of dollars of power sector quiet energy revolution has spread from wealthy neighbourhoods to middle- and lower-income households as customers look to escape soaring electricity bills and prolonged power a cramped alley in Pakistan's megacity of Karachi, residents fighting the sweltering summer heat gather in Fareeda Saleem's modest home for something they never experienced before -- uninterrupted power."Solar makes life easier, but it's a hard choice for people like us," she says of the installation was cut from the grid last year for refusing to pay her bills in protest over enduring 18-hour power cuts.A widow and mother of two disabled children, she sold her jewellery -- a prized possession for women in Pakistan -- and borrowed money from relatives to buy two solar panels, a solar inverter and battery to store energy, for 180,000 rupees ($630).As temperatures pass 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), children duck under Saleem's door and gather around the breeze of her on poles above homes, solar panels have become a common sight across the country of 240 million people, with the installation cost typically recovered within two to five up less than two percent of the energy mix in 2020, solar power reached 10.3 percent in 2024, according to the global energy think tank in a remarkable acceleration, it more than doubled to 24 percent in the first five months of 2025, becoming the largest source of energy production for the first has edged past gas, coal and nuclear electricity sources, as well as hydropower which has seen hundreds of millions of dollars of investment over the past a result, Pakistan has unexpectedly surged towards its target of renewable energy, making up 60 percent of its energy mix by Jones, chief analyst at Ember, told AFP that Pakistan was "a leader in rooftop solar".Soaring fuel costs globally, coupled with demands from the International Monetary Fund to slash government subsidies, led successive administrations to repeatedly hike electricity have fluctuated since 2022 but peaked at a 155-percent increase and power bills sometimes outweigh the cost of rent."The great solar rush is not the result of any government's policy push," Muhammad Basit Ghauri, an energy transition expert at Renewables First, told AFP."Residents have taken the decision out of clear frustration over our classical power system, which is essentially based on a lot of inefficiencies."Pakistan sources most of its solar equipment from neighbouring China, where prices have dropped sharply, largely driven by overproduction and tech the fall in national grid consumers has crept up on an unprepared government burdened by $8 billion of power sector debt, analysts depends heavily on costly gas imports,which it sells at a loss to national energy is also tied into lengthy contracts with independent power producers, including some owned by China, for which it pays a fixed amount regardless of actual demand.A government report in March said the solar power increase has created a "disproportionate financial burden onto grid consumers, contributing to higher electricity tariffs and undermining the sustainability of the energy sector".Electricity sales dropped 2.8 percent year-on-year in June, marking a second consecutive year of month, the government imposed a new 10-percent tax on all imported solar, while the energy ministry has proposed slashing the rate at which it buys excess solar energy from consumers."The household solar boom was a response to a crisis, not the cause of it," said analyst Jones, warning of "substantial problems for the grid" including a surge during evenings when solar users who cannot store energy return to traditional national grid is losing paying customers like businessman Arsalan Arif.A third of his income was spent on electricity bills at his Karachi home until he bought a 10-kilowatt solar panel for around 1.4 million rupees (around $4,900)."Before, I didn't follow a timetable. I was always disrupted by the power outages," he told he has "freedom and certainty" to continue his catering the eastern city of Sialkot, safety wear manufacturer Hammad Noor switched to solar power in 2023, calling it his "best business decision", breaking even in 18 months and now saving 1 million rupees every cost of converting Noor's second factory has now risen by nearly 1.5 million rupees under the new government tax."The tax imposed is unfair and gives an advantage to big businesses over smaller ones," he said."Policymakers seem completely disconnected from the public and business community."
BBC News
08-04-2025
- Business
- BBC News
40 percent of world's power clean but emissions rising
More than 40 percent of the world's electricity was generated without burning fossil fuels in 2024, according to a new report from think-tank carbon dioxide emissions, which warm the planet, have risen to an all time high, the report says, with hot weather pushing up the overall demand for meant an increase in the use of fossil fuel burning power power continues to be the fastest-growing energy source, with the amount of electricity it generates doubling in the last three years. "Solar power has become the engine of the global energy transition," said Phil Macdonald, the managing director of Ember. "Amid the noise, it's essential to focus on the real signal. Hotter weather drove the fossil generation increase in 2024, but we're very unlikely to see a similar jump in 2025."Ina separate report, the European Copenicus climate service said March 2025 was the second hottest on record, extending a spell of record or near record breaking is a glabal energy think tank which has been predicting for several years that emissions of the climate warming gas carbon dioxide were about to start falling. But this hasn't happened yet due to increasing global demand for electricity. Solar revolutionCheap and relatively easy to install, for the twentieth year in a row solar is the fastest growing electricity source. According to Ember, the amount generated by solar panels has doubled every three years since continues to dominate the growth of solar with more than half of the increase taking place there. India's solar capacity doubled between 2023 and it is growing fast, solar remains a relatively small part of the global energy mix contributing just under 7% of global supply – that's the same as powering the entire country of India. Wind contributes just over 8%, with hydropower contributing 14% making it the largest source of clean energy. Both hydro-electric and nuclear power (9%) are growing much more slowly than wind and solar. Back to the 1940sThe report says that clean energy sources contributed more than 40% of global electricity generation for the first time since the 1940s. Back then demand was much lower, and hydroelectric power stations contributed a significant big picture is that the rise in the global demand for electricity continues to outpace the growth in renewable energy. That means that though the percentage generated by clean power has risen to 40.9% the amount of greenhouse gases being emitted has yet to start to the Ember report global demand for electricity rose by 4% in 2024. This was partly due to an increased use of air conditioning in what was a particularly hot year. That meant that fossil fuel generation, mostly coal (34%) and gas (22%), increased by 1.4% and global emissions of the climate warming gas CO2 rose to an all time high of 14.6bn the last five years, fast-growing Asian economies, in particular India and China, have continued expanding their use of fossil fuels to meet rapidly rising demand for electricity.
