The government continues to struggle for tapping renewable and alternate energy sources to meet the increasing demand every year.

The present government has been trying to attract foreign investors offering different incentives. Recently, Pakistan’s renewable energy sector attracted a potential investment of $368 million with a possible cumulative generation of 266.5 MW, according to government reports.

According to Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB), an official body working on renewable energy resources, total electricity generation (installed capacity) with alternate energy sources in Pakistan has gone up to 1250 MW. "We expect an increase of 100MW by the end of this month," says Amjad Ali Awan, chief executive officer of the AEDB.

Out of this total installed capacity, around 400MW is generated through wind. Most of the projects have been financed by the Chinese and Turkish investors. Wind and solar are considered the main renewable energy sources.

For the last one decade, respective governments have been trying to generate power through wind, especially in the coastal areas of Sindh. The government is currently planning to set up wind farms in the wind corridor, some of which are regions where supplying electricity through the national grid has been a challenge.

All the wind energy plants have been installed in Sindh while all the solar energy projects have been constructed in Punjab. A few biogas plants have been made in south Punjab and some in Sindh.

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The meteorological department has quantified the wind energy generation potential for Pakistan. Biogas energy is mostly generated through sugarcane and its total installed capacity is up to 160MW.

According to some NGOs, like Sustainable Development Institute (SDPI), that are working on renewable sources of energy for Pakistan, solar energy has the potential of meeting the energy needs in some of the more remote areas of Pakistan. Wind and geothermal sources have also been identified as potential realistic sources of energy.