Resource adequacy issues in Pakistan’s power grid –II on December 11, 2020In the first part, we observed that NTDC’s IGCEP2047 envisages addition of 50 GW of new capacity in the grid by 2030, with investments to top over USD 70 billion. For a country already sinking under foreign loans and where electricity prices have risen beyond the affordability of most consumers, this should be a cause […]
Resource adequacy issues in Pakistan’s power grid–I on December 5, 2020Power generation resources in Pakistan are being developed currently without due regard to their full financial implications, leading some critics to accuse the government of adding unnecessary capacity in the grid which ends up in higher-than- normal generation costs. This article examines the present criterion being used to determine generation requirements and whether it’s sound […]
Government’s roadmap to fix the power sector: belated but promising on November 26, 2020The new Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Power, Tabish Gauhar, has recently made public his roadmap for resolving the major issues of the country’s power sector. It’s a welcome step asit reflects his keen and objectivedesire towards handling these serious issues. His insight and grasp on these issues and his ideas to resolve […]
The unstoppable march of renewables on September 1, 2020For a host of reasons, solar and wind technologies as alternative sources of electricity are destined to grow in Pakistan in the coming years. Their march seems unstoppable now and resisting it will be neither possible nor wise. The real challenge, however, will be to steer their adoption in ways that can secure the true […]
Taming the monster of higher electricity prices-II on August 8, 2020Power sector problems in Pakistan are acute, chronic, and have accumulated over decades. They are also multi-dimensional and not restricted to any one aspect of the sector. They all, however, have culminated into feeding the monster, “the higher-than-normal electricity prices”. There is no easy way out of the present quagmire. A carefully-crafted reform program will […]
Taming the monster of higher electricity prices-I on August 6, 2020Reports from multiple sources indicate that electricity prices in Pakistan are increasing rapidly, and if not checked in time, would grow into a monster that would haunt the nation in just a few years. Some analysts blame the pervasive inefficiencies and poor management within the power sector entities to be the root cause of this […]
Shifting to ‘Power Grid of the Future’ on July 19, 2020“I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” (Abraham Maslow) Much that one strives to avoid hackneyed phrases, occasionally they become irresistible. Abraham Maslow’s above phrase quickly pops up into mind when one hears the details (as reported in the […]
Pakistan’s power sector: discovering opportunities in challenges on July 2, 2020Recent developments in the global energy markets have created an unprecedented and unique opportunity for our leaders to transform the seriously ailing power sector of the country into a viable and vibrant contributor to powering its development dreams. It would be unfortunate if they miss this opportunity by continuing to run this sector on traditional […]
Pakistan’s power sector: in desperate need of a new vision on June 27, 2020Our government, under IMF pressure, is currently mulling over a proposal to shift the burden of power sector’s inefficiencies on to the electricity consumers. The new proposal, under the title of “Debt Servicing Surcharge” will empower the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) to pass on the cost burden of power sector’s technical and administrative […]
Avoiding IPP-type Conundrums in the Future on May 17, 2020Media is currently abuzz with reports and debates about how the IPPs, under the various private power generation policies of the various governments, have fleeced the nation by minting billions in terms of unprecedented profits on top of their invested capital. We leave it to experts on both sides of the fence to wrangle out […]