Pakistan outruns neighbours in solar power race

Pakistan saw electricity prices jump by 155% in three years, while solar panel prices fell by nearly 50% and were exempted from import duties and sales taxes, making solar power a cheaper alternative for households and farmers, said an analysis by the World Resources Institute, an international NGO.

South Asia has seen a rapid expansion in rooftop solar power generation in the last two years as the region tries to cut its reliance on polluting and often-imported fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.

The most spectacular growth has happened in Pakistan, where rooftop solar power now accounts for a quarter of the country’s electricity supply, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, a US think tank.

Other South Asian countries lag far behind.

India, the region’s largest renewable energy producer, boosted its rooftop solar capacity from about 11 gigawatts, or 2.6% of the total energy mix in 2023, to 18 GW by May 2025, the think tank said. But that still only makes up 3.9% of the total generating capacity.

Sri Lanka also more than doubled its rooftop solar capacity from 516 MW in 2022 to 1,347 MW by the end of 2024. It now makes up 23% of the Indian Ocean island nation’s energy capacity, the study said.

But Bangladesh’s rooftop solar sector has shown little momentum, with...

Read more

News