Current status and future success of renewable energy in Pakistan

Abstract Mismatch between energy demand and supply from last two decades has been increasing because of the domination of expensive imported oil in energy mix of Pakistan. To import crude oil Government paid US $ 9 billion in 2008–2009 to meet the energy demands of the country that put a heavy load on national economy. Sustained economic condition of a country is owing to the sustainability of its energy sector. In this paper current position and future success of Renewable Energy (RE) under the light of operational and under construction RE projects such as solar, wind, biomass, biogas and hydro power are discussed along with that role of organizations and institutions in RE field is studied. RE projects with a cumulative capacity of 100 MW solar, 308 MW wind, 145 MW bagasse and 98 MW micro hydro are operational while 856 MW solar, 1140 MW wind, 297 MW bagasse and 2638 MW micro hydro projects are under different project development stages. The results indicate a change in present energy mix by giving share to the RE sources and domination of RE sources in future energy mix in view of ongoing major RE projects encouraging the eradication of demand and supply gap. The overall results envisage a success of RE in future of Pakistan and will intrigue not only local as well as foreign investors to invest in energy sector of Pakistan.