Pakistan’s Energy Problems and Solutions

Good lecture by Dr. Nayyar but he should have mentioned also the potential that increase of efficiency in the use of energy offers. In many countries increased energy efficiency offers a more cost-effective option for meeting energy demand as opposed to augmenting primary energy supply. While solar PV is relatively capital intensive, the prices of cells have dropped quite dramatically in the last couple of years. Interestingly, to use intermittent sources like solar and wind, that are non-dispatchable (in the jargon of the electric power industry), one needs to effectively couple them with what is known as “spinning reserve” (peak power plants like gas turbines or peak hydro that can be started very rapidly) to meet the load in case of a sharp drop in the output of a PV array (e.g. due to intermittent cloud cover). In this respect, Pakistan’s gas reserves and could be better utilized. perhaps, in this fashion to work in tandem with solar/wind sources, which the lecturer has stated to have very significant potential in the country.