A clean and permanent energy infrastructure for Pakistan:

Solar-hydrogen energy system

A clean and permanent energy infrastructure for Pakistan:
Solar-hydrogen energy system
Abstract
With the advent of the year 2008, Pakistan faces a gap of 4500 MW between the demand and supply of
electricity, registering a shortfall of 40%. The article provides an overview of the key dimensions of the
crisis, i.e. growing gap between demand and supply, diminishing indigenous oil and gas reserves, rising
energy cost and security concerns. It also explores hydropower, solar energy, biomass and wind power
as sustainable energy options for the country. In has been found that the total estimated hydropower
potential is more than 42 GW out of which only 6.5 GW has been tapped so far. In terms of available
solar energy Pakistan is amongst the richest countries in the world, having an annual global irradiance
value of 19002200 kWh/m
2
. Despite that fact that the biomass plays an important role in the primary
energy mix by contributing to 36% of the total supplies, it has not managed to break into the commercial
energy market. Wind power, also been identified as a potential source of energy, is yet to take off.
Keywords
Sustainability;
Renewable energy;
Fossil fuels;
Hydropower;
Solar energy;
Biomass;
Wind power
A clean and permanent energy infrastructure for Pakistan:
Solar-hydrogen energy system

A solar-hydrogen energy system has been proposed for Pakistan as the best replacement for the present
fossil fuel based energy system. Hydrogen is to be produced via a photovoltaic-electrolysis system,
utilizing the available non-agricultural sunny terrain in Baluchistan region. There will be a desalination
plant for sea water desalination. The area under the photovoltaic panels with the availability of water
would provide suitable environment for growing some cash crops. This would change the vast useless
desert land into green productive farms. In order to show the quantitative benefits of the proposed
system, future trends of important energy and economical parameters have been studied with and without
hydrogen introduction. These included population, energy demand (fossil + hydrogen), energy production
(fossil + hydrogen), gross national product, fossil energy imports, world energy prices, environmental
savings due to hydrogen introduction, savings due to the higher utilization efficiency of hydrogen, by-
product credit, agricultural income, income from hydrogen sale, photovoltaic cell area, total land area,
water desalination plant capacity, capital investment, operating and maintenance cost, total income from
the system environmental impact and quality of life. The results indicate that adopting the solar-hydrogen
energy system would eliminate the import dependency on fossil fuels, increase gross product per capita,
reduce pollution, improve quality of life, and establish a permanent and clean energy system. The total
annual expenditure for the proposed system is quite small compared to the total income expected. The
availability of water, the cast crop production, electricity and hydrogen would result in rapid development
of Baluchistan, the largest province of Pakistan.
Greener energy: Issues and challenges for Pakistan
Biomass energy prospective
Abstract
Diversification of fuel sources is imperative to address the energy security, climate change, and
sustainable development issues; therefore, it is essential to address the energy crisis through the
extensive utilization of abundant renewable energy resources, such as biomass energy, solar energy,
wind energy and geothermal energy. Improving energy services for poor households in developing
countries remains one of the most pressing challenges facing the development community. Earlier
studies suggest in South Asia the households are likely to follow the energy ladder comprising fuels like
dung, crop residue, firewood, kerosene, gobar gas, LPG, and electricity for cooking purposes. Evidence
suggests that while it is possible to observe such transition in urban and semi-urban areas, the change is
very slow in rural areas. In rural Pakistan, the access to commercial energy resources is limited, the
majority of the households still heavily rely on traditional methods of using wood, animal waste and crop
waste for domestic fuel needs. Efficiencies of use are very low and most of the potential is wasted
because of non-scientific conventional technologies. Consequently there is an obligatory need to develop
modern bio-energy technologies since renewable resources may serve to supplement the long-term
energy needs of Pakistan to a significant level. Though the bio-resource base of Pakistan is substantial,
its contribution to useful energy is low. In this paper we called attention to issues and challenges in
biomass utilization for energy in Pakistan in context of sustainable development. This paper has identified
areas in Pakistan where there is considerable scope to modernize biomass energy production delivery
systems to provide varied energy carriers such as electricity, industrial and domestic fuel and gases.
Barriers are examined over the whole biomass energy spectrum and policy issue and institutional roles
and responsibilities are discussed.