BY SYED MAAZ PYM

Pakistan, a country blessed with many natural resources for the past few years has been facing the problem of load-shedding due to the electricity demand being more then the production capacity of the national power grid. The first thing to do about it is to look at the recent power history of the country to get a better idea of how it was created and its many causes.

In 1996 Pakistan had the ability to produce about 15000 Megawatts of electricity which was more then enough for our own needs and we had a surplus of power present in the country and talks were taking place with neighbouring countries in which we would export electricity to them. So considering that how is that after just 14 years later we have reached such a condition that we don’t even have enough power to meet our needs?

The first and foremost issue is that the rulers since 1996 did not bother to make any new power projects and to add additional power to the natural grid. In 14 years our production capacity has increased by just 1000-2000 Megawatts which reflects poorly on us as a country and our leadership for not having the foresight to see this issue looming.
The other is that the country is rich in natural resources and we have not all invested in the alternative sources available to make our power generation less costly then it is currently. We have sun for the most part of the year in majority parts of the country and one alternative is to tap into the potential of solar power to produce energy since in it the cost of producing energy is very less as the biggest source (SUN) is free and using its heat wont cost anything.
The other alternative available to us is the wind source in which we can make wind mills or wind turbines and have power generated from them which will again be quite cheap as we are just using the energy of the wind costing nothing to use.
Since we generate about 40% of our total power by hydro electricity we can look at this source to produce power as well. It has a start up cost and after that producing electricity from it is very cheap aswell since we are just using the water to produce electricity. This might not be the best choice for us since in winter when the water supply gets low then we wont be able to produce electricity by it and which can lead to a power shortage.
Nuclear Reactors are another option available for us to produce electricity by using them but its not very advisable for us since they have a very high building cost and generating that much captial to make a lot of nuclear powerplants will be almost impossible for a developing country like us which already has a shortage of funds and capital. But having a little of our total production by nuclear power can be seen as a good thing.
Most of our electricity is produced by thermal power plants which burn oil or gas and then produce electricity. Since the country is deficient in oil resources we import oil for this purpose and pay a heavy import bill for the oil. The intelligent thing is to move away from the power production from oil and gas since the raw material necessary for the functioning of the power plant is so expensive to get. And seeing the gas crisis in the country currently with a gas shortage predicted to worsen in the coming years we should start moving away from the gas power plants aswell and use our gas for more important purposes.
We have one of the largest coal deposits in the world in Tharparkar Desert, Sindh so why we have not started utilising that remains a mystery. The power generation in the thermal power plants can be switched to coal (which is present in a very large quantity locally) and extracted from Tharparkar to meet the demand of the country in the power sector. By doing all this we can save a lot money for the country and use it in other sectors, end our dependence on expensive foreign oil and become self reliant on the coal and then consequently the power sector.
Now the real question which comes to mind is that were the people in the government sleeping for the past 14 years? Did they not realise that the power needs of the country would increase? (which has increased by about 500 megawatts annually) and so for that they needed to make sure that some power projects were launched ensure the country didn’t face this power problem?
There’s no use in crying over spilt milk so talking about should have happened wont change anything. But now we should look towards the future and talk about instead of what we HAVE TO DO to end the power crisis. The current power minister after going back on what he committed to the whole nation shows that he can’t be trusted to keep his word and therefore whatever he says may very well be false and said just to appease the people. What the government needs to do is to ensure that they seriously start looking into the alternative sources available for producing power and then start utilising them to end the current crisis the country is facing.
One last question though begs to be asked. In Pakistan Studies (O levels) we are told and made to study in great detail about all alternative and sources of power generation and If a common citizen (me) can present all these solutions to end the power crisis really what are the people in WAPDA, PEPCO etc hired for and what really is the purpose of having them working? Had they been aware of it or if they follow these things the power crisis can be eliminated. Really just how incompetent are they?