Pakistani Solar

DNYUZ: “Hidden solar surge in Pakistan shocks experts, and grid.” Observers are calling this one of the fastest solar revolutions in the world. In just this year—2024—Pakistan is projected to add an estimated 17 gigawatts [GW] of solar power—which will constitute more than a third of the country’s total generating capacity. [Recall that a GW is equivalent to the rating of a typical nuclear plant]. “The surge is ‘probably the most extreme’ case that has happened in any country in the world with the speed that has happened,’ according to energy analyst Dave Jones, who tracks the global energy transition at think tank Ember in the UK.” Consumers, businesses + industries are turning to this cheap renewable power source as an alternative to the erratic and expensive government-provided, largely fossil-fuel based energy. “Many households around the country have also been crippled by soaring energy prices over the past three years, inflated by an over-investment in thermal power plants, and government subsidy cuts to meet loan conditions.” In particular, this has turned out to be a lifesaver turning the daytime portion of heatwaves. Fans, air condtioners, + refrigerators can function during the worst of the heat. When Shafqat Hussain’s mother nearly died during a 28-hour power outage at their family home, he decided to install PV panels, which slashed their electricty bills by about 80% and allowed them to greatly alleviate the intensity of subsequent grid outages. The familiar problems of legacy fossil-fuel generators idled during the daytime ‘duck curve’ of solar production, coupled with shifting the burden of higher electricity costs to those without solar will continue to be problematic until the costs of both grid-level + distributed battery storage comes down. Now, almost everywhere in the world solar is the fastest, cheapest + easiest energy source of electricity. Period.