A detailed report on Energy Crisis in Pakistan

                                                       

 Energy Crisis in Pakistan

                                                                           “What does ‘LOL’ stand for in Pakistan?”

“Hennery Kissinger said, “The amount of energy is finite.

And competition for access to energy can become

The life and death for many societies””r1

Introduction:

                Energy is considered to be life line of any economy and most vital instrument of socio-economic development of a country. Energy is pivotal in running machinery in factories and industrial units, for lighting our cities and powering our vehicles etc.

            Man is dependent on energy, which has been the key to his rapid industrial growth and technological development. The pace of development after industrial revolution is unprecedented. Just 200 years ago, the world experienced energy revolution that launched the industrial age. The catalyst to this epochal change was ordinary black coal - an energy rich hydrocarbon. A century later, oil and gas were added to satiate the thirst of industry. Man still relies mainly on these fossil fuels. 

                                Nevertheless many other sources of energy: hydro, solar, nuclear, wind, geothermal, biogas and wave have been taped. These sources of energy are not only renewable but clean as well. Since the hydrocarbons are exhaustible and their use also threatens human health and environment; this fact has necessitated transformation from non-renewable energy resources to renewable and clean energy resources so that economic growth could be sustained and environmental degradation could be prevented.

Pakistan’s Energy Sector:

                Pakistan’s energy infrastructure is not well developed, rather it is considered to be underdeveloped and poorly managed.
                

                Energy resources are the backbone of social economic development of any country. It is essential for the production and making of goods and other things like cotton sheets which contributes a lot of revenue in the budget of Pakistan.

Energy Crisis:

“An energy crisis can be defined as any great bottleneck (or price rise) in the supply of energy resources to an economy.”

Energy Crisis in Pakistan:

            Currently the country is facing severe energy crisis. Despite of strong economic growth and rising energy demand during past decade, no serious efforts have been made to install new capacity of generation. Moreover, rapid demand growth, transmission losses due to outdated infrastructure, power theft, and seasonal reductions in the availability of hydro-power have worsened the situation. Consequently, the demand exceeds supply and hence load-shedding is a common phenomenon through power shut-down.

          There has been an enormous increase in the demand of energy in Pakistan as a result of industrial development and population growth, as compared to increase in energy production. The number of energy consumers has increased to 12.5 million: household 46 per cent, industry 28 per cent, agriculture 12 per cent, bulk supply nine per cent and commercial five per cent. For faster economic growth, Pakistan need more generation. Supply of energy is, therefore, far less than actual demand, resultantly crisis has emerged.         

                Energy crisis in Pakistan started in 2007 and in 2008 it took a serious turn. During 2009-10, energy supply and per capita availability of energy witnessed a decline of 0.64 per cent and 3.09 per cent respectively in comparison to previous year.

                                Pakistan needs around 15,000 to 20,000 MW electricity per day, however, currently it is producing about 11,500 MW per day hence there is a shortfall of about 4000 to 9000 MW per day. The power companies, circular debt is a big issue which has risen to 230 billion. Line losses, mainly theft, lone contributed Rs.125 billion to circular debt. It is better for the government to focus on curtailing power theft. Mere power tariff raise could not revive the power sector, as numerous hikes in the past have not resolved the chronic problems of circular debt and power theft.

Causes of Energy crisis in Pakistan:

Pakistan is facing energy crisis due to the failure of previous governments to create new projects for the growing demand of electricity. Following are the major reasons of energy problems in Pakistan:

Spontaneously growing demand of electricity due to the following factors:-

                                    a. Rapidly increase in population.

b. Improvement in the living standards of people.
c. Industrial development and expansion of houses.
d. Rapidly increase in transportation on a daily basis.
e. Lack of planning for the energy generation projects. 

                Pakistan has already developed many projects for the electricity needs but they are not enough to fulfill the whole electricity demand of Pakistan. Currently Pakistan’s energy demand is 20,000 MW against the production of 11,500 MW, therefore due to this imbalanced presents in supply and demand the problems of Pakistan are growing rapidly.

In Pakistan the mixture of resources used for the electricity regeneration are also imbalanced as compared to other countries. Pakistan too much depends on the non-renewable energy sources for electricity production. The price of crude oil in international market changes on a daily basis, which creates the destabilization in the electricity generation expenditures of Pakistan. The increase in the prices of fuels affects everything and is purely responsible for every problem of Pakistan.

Pakistan’s energy production resources mixture should be depend more on renewable energy sources like Hydro power, Coal, wind and solar energy. Non-utilization of these natural resources is the one of a soul reason of the problems of Pakistan.  

Resources of Energy in Pakistan:

                           In Pakistan electricity is produced by using two types of resources:

1. Non Renewable resources. (Limited and Expensive)
2. Renewable Resources. (Unlimited and cheap)

Non-renewable Resources (Fossil Fuels):

                                   These resources are not environmentally friendly. They are responsible for the rapid increase in Global Warming. These resources are found in the earth's crust in the form of coal, crude oil and gas which are further distilled to obtain resources like Petrol, Diesel and coal etc.

Ø  Usage of Oil in Pakistan

 Oil can be utilized in technology of power generation, which is generating 64 % of power, 34% energy has been generated from Hydro power. According to the analysts the amount of crude oil currently found in regions of Pakistan is equal to 303. 63 zillion barrels and we have been taking out roughly around twenty-four zillion crude oil every year.

Ø  Usage of Natural gas in Pakistan

The usage of gas in power generation is 43.7%. LPG gas contributes around 0.7% in energy consumption in Pakistan. The study of the comparison of rates between Electricity, oil and gas shows us the reason of growing gas demand. World-wide gas is counted among the very expensive resources but in Pakistan gas is the cheapest energy resource used in households, transportation and industry.

Ø  Uses of Coal in Pakistan

Pakistan’s fossil fuel supplies predicted to be more than 185 million tones of coal is present on the lands of Pakistan. Additionally 175 million tones of coal are identified in the Thor coal-fields. Coal is largely used in brick kiln and concrete floor market sectors. Guddu power plant is the largest one which has a generation capacity of 1650 MW.

Renewable Energy Resources:

Renewable energy sources are those which are created by Mother Nature. These resources are unlimited and eco-friendly. These resources are used as a cheaper source of Electricity generation.

Hydro Power Generation:

                                                                           Hydro power could be generated by using power turbines which convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. Hydro Power contributes the huge amount of energy in the energy reservoirs of Pakistan. This is the very cheap source of electricity generation, which contributes only 34% in the whole power generation of Pakistan. At this time we are gaining 6555 MW.

Ø  Wind Energy:

                            Pakistan has an ability to generate electricity by wind power from 10000 to 50000 MW. Electricity generation through wind turbines is at initial stages in Pakistan. In future wind turbines will be placed at Jhampir, Gharo, Keti Bandar and also Bin Qasim Karachi.

Ø  Solar Energy:

                           Solar energy uses solar panels to convert sunlight into electricity. According to the analysts Pakistan has a potential of generating electricity more than 100,000 MV with the help of solar energy of Pakistan. The projects of developing solar energy plants are underway in Kashmir, Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. Alternate Electricity Development Panel (AEDB) is doing work with 20, 000 photovoltaic mineral water heaters in Gilgit Baltistan. Now government bodies are trying to switch the generation of electricity from non-renewable to renewable energy sources like sunlight.

Ø  Nuclear Energy:

                               Nuclear energy is generated on the principal of fission reactions, by using Uranium in the nuclear reactors. In Pakistan Nuclear energy generation is very low, which is around 425 MW. However these programs should be deployed to increase the energy production of Pakistan. 

Solutions or Recommendations:

                                Energy crisis can be curtailed by:

                                                                  i.            Reducing unnecessary energy use
                                                    Ø  Usage of electricity saving devices

                                                   Ø  Awareness campaign for energy saving

                                                   Ø  Reduction in unnecessary transportations by developing good                                                                public transport systems and strengthening Pakistan railways

                                                   Ø   Reduction in industrial uses with installation of effective                                                                         equipment/ energy efficient and with increasing efficiency of                                                                 workforce (cost effective)

                                                   Ø   Decreasing reliance on rental power projects, because instead of                                                             doing any good, they are increasing prices of electricity.
Ø   Decreasing line losses by using efficient power transmission cables

                                                                   ii.            Developing new energy resources

                                                 Ø    Tapping indigenous resources (Thar coal)

                                                 Ø    Using renewable resources (water) by constructing new dams                                                                and Hydro power plants

                                                 Ø    Import of natural gas by IPI (Iran, Pakistan, India) and TAPI                                                                  (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India) pipelines.

                                                 Ø    Import of electricity from Tajikistan -through Pak Afghan                                                                      Tajikistan transmission- and Iran (approximately 1000 MW from                                                           each of them) pipelines

                                                 Ø    Utilizing alternative energy resources :

                                v  Wind power

                                v  Solar
                                v Enhancing civilian nuclear capacity

Click here for MS word file.....
                         
                                  Download