June 05, 2022: President SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry Iftikhar Ali Malik Sunday said energy is crucial for socio-economic development and construction of new dams and fully exploitation of renewable energy is the need of the hour to cope with the ever-increasing power demands of industrial and agricultural sectors.
Talking to the women's delegation led by Ms. Ayesha Abdul Khaliq Butt he stressed the urgent need for full utilization of renewable energy resources and the construction of new dams including the Kala Bagh dam for storage of water for both irrigation and power purposes.
He said hydropower is a major cheapest source of renewable energy in Pakistan with great potential and worth billions of rupees flood water can also be stored for multiple purposes.
He said Pakistan has now become world’s top 10 water-scarce nations.
He said, “Because of climate change and other developments, we suffer from floods during the summers and drought in the winter repeatedly”.
He said, “Transboundary water cooperation plays a crucial role in supporting wider regional integration, peace and sustainable development as well as tackling regional security challenges and in supporting climate change adaption”.
He emphasized the need for transboundary cooperation that assumed even greater urgency with rising water scarcity. Iftikhar Ali Malik said at present Pakistan meets its energy requirements of over 75 percent from domestic resources of which 50.4 percent from the indigenous gas, 28.4 percent from domestic and imported oil and 12.7 percent from hydroelectricity.
Regarding renewable energy, he said Pakistan has four main renewable sources which included wind, solar, hydro and biomass. He said these resources have significant potential to provide solutions to the long-lasting energy crisis grappling with Pakistan.
He said these resources if fully exploited in true spirit will help greatly improve to diverse energy supply market and decrease the dependence on imported fuels and to do away with environmental pollution.
He said solar is believed to be one of the most endowed renewable energy resources which is equally reliable and capable of producing a substantial amount of energy without posing an adverse impact on the environment.
He said geographical position and climate conditions in Pakistan is advantageous for the exploitation of solar energy.
He said almost every part of the country receives 8-10 hours daily solar radiation with more than 300 sunshine in a year. The leader of the delegation Ms Ayesha Abdul Khaliq Butt underlined the need to combat with supply-demand gap and a steady transformation is being observed throughout the world from primary energy supplies based on conventional sources to renewable resources.
Pakistan ought to continue to formulate efforts toward renewable energy endeavors. However, with the current gap between the demand and production of power in Pakistan, is alarming with a constant increase of 8-10% per annum, and the heavy dependence on limited fossil fuel resources, renewable alternatives which are able to commercially support conventional energy options must soon be in full-scale operation.
She said policies for buying small-scale renewable energy systems using a repayable loan scheme for the public should be streamlined and made easy for encouraging the people.
The power demand of Pakistan is projected to increase up to 11,000 MW by the year 2030. Therefore, a more holistic approach to addressing all the above-mentioned issues is important to fully utilize the renewable energy potential to achieve a sustainable energy future for the country.
A determined political will is a key to energy independence, she concluded.
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