Pro-active energy management emphasised

Islamabad : The pro-active energy management is the need of hour for Pakistan to meet the emerging challenges in the energy sector. The experts from energy sector said this while sharing their view with the participants of online webinar ‘Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP) 2047 and the challenges’ organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), here on Tuesday, with support from the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), the Rural Development Policy Institute (RDPI), the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA), and World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-Pakistan).

Simon Nicholas of the Institute for Energy Economics Analysis said though the plan takes into account both energy and economic impacts, there was a risk in both and there are chances that the plan could be unsustainable in both energy and economics. Concerns were raised against GDP projections as well.

Moreover, he said, the major risk in IGCEP is the locking of too much power that will cause a huge economic loss. He said that Pakistan will be better off by reducing the cost of generation.

Tauseefur Rehman from the National Transmission and Distribution Company (NTDC) said planning and Forecasting of Energy demand is the main driving parameter and pre-requisite behind plans such as IGCEP 2047. He added that it is an indicative plan that will be updated every year and will be based on different scenarios of GDP growth rates and electricity sales.

Haneea Isaad of the Rural Development Policy Institute (RDPI) said the plan lacked an explanation in its least-cost analysis whereas hydropower might not have been optimised and transmission cost does not appear to be a part of the plan.

She also raised concerns about the grave social, financial and environmental risks posed by an over-dependence of the IGCEP plan on fossil fuel fired generation. Likewise, a target of achieving 30% renewable energy by 2030 has been considered, but a decrease in the share of renewables is seen after 2030, she added.

Dr Muhammad Asif, Assistant Professor, Glasgow University, pointed out that energy efficiency and management is a major contributor and pre-requisite for an energy-efficient outlook.