Energy security and renewable energy policy analysis of Pakistan

Abstract Sustainable energy supply is an important factor for continued economic growth of any society. Pakistan is among those developing countries which are facing severe shortages of energy now-a-days. The current and past governments in the country have designed various energy policies to fulfill energy demands but could not fill the demand-supply gap; there has been a shortage of about 5000 MW of electrical supply during summer 2016. A policy for development of renewable energy was framed in 2006 which was aimed to supply sustainable energy to all consumers including those households which have not been supplied electricity and natural gas in rural and far-flung areas. The policy was extended for implementation in 2011 and is still in use. The basis of this policy rests on energy security and self-sufficiency, social equity and economic benefits. This study aims at analyzing renewable energy policy of Pakistan and examining and finding the ways to secure energy supplies in future using LEAP. Four Scenarios, business-as-usual, green Pakistan, nuclear and optimization, have been developed to assess the validity of the energy plans. The study concludes that green Pakistan scenario employing renewable energy technologies, having minimum operation and externality costs, is the most suitable option in future.