Daily Times

There’s nothing new to the alarm bells sounded by the Hydro Electric Power Association as it deplored the prime minister to take note of the widespread red tape determined to knock the air out of small hydel projects or shut the book on them altogether. Pakistan’s energy sector has for decades, ignored its immense hydropower potential, which could help alleviate the impact of our ever-intensifying energy crisis. All the buzz about the game-changing development of renewable domestic resources has rarely found a space outside catchy slogans or a few news cycles. The country currently faces 10-12 hrs of blackouts in urban areas with the hours increasing as we move into the rural territory. Our energy demand is expected to be three times higher by 2050, significantly faster than the rate at which energy is produced. In the meantime, our dependence on foreign crude oil has doomed the country to a shortfall in electricity generation that can only be compensated by tapping into renewable energy sources, such as hydropower.

Pakistan’s topography and abundance of water resources already provide the perfect climate for such energy to be utilized; the country’s northwestern areas are particularly suited to this kind of energy development. However, these resources have been historically neglected by the government. Until now, electrical power from hydro resources accounts for a substantial 30 per cent of the energy mix, which is a mere 11 per cent of the overall potential of hydropower sources in Pakistan. The government simply has no structures in place to accommodate these schemes efficiently. In the absence of regulatory frameworks to oversee hydropower projects, people are less likely to invest in the energy of this nature. Those who do invest find themselves trapped in an endless loop of institutional delays that inhibit their projects from being approved on time.

The biggest obstacles come from political decision-makers who tend to focus exclusively on large and visible hydropower systems and have traditionally neglected policies in support of smaller projects. All these problems are entrenched in the unavailability of data related to hydro resources, such as seasonal variations in the flow of rivers and streams, electricity demand and the geographical makeup of an area. Since small hydro has no major environmental impacts and the generation of hydroelectricity can even reduce carbon emissions, it is crucial for a climate-vulnerable country like Pakistan, which has already witnessed the worst due to its unsustainable fixation with crude oil and coal. Policymakers have shunned its potential for too long. *