Call for holistic renewable energy transition
The ECC authorised the energy ministry to sign deals with power plants on principles that if foreign exchange was not available for coal procurement, the government would neither deduct the capacity purchase price nor impose liquidating damages. photo: file
Keeping in view growing inflation and energy demands, the government needs to ensure its course correction and clear direction as an imperative to achieve a just and holistic renewable energy transition.
This was the crux of views expressed by the experts at a roundtable titled, “Stocktaking Pakistan’s Renewable Energy Progress 2024: Opportunities and Challenges” on Thursday.
The event was jointly organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and Pakistan Renewable Energy Coalition on the occasion of the International Day of Clean Energy. The day is marked on January 26 across the world to raise awareness and mobilise action for a just and inclusive transition to clean energy for the benefit of people and the planet.
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In his opening remarks, SDPI Research Fellow, Dr Khalid Waleed, said the past three years were challenging for Pakistan in particular and the world in general in terms of polycrisis, post-COVID spiking, inflation and the Ukraine-Russia war. Amid all these pressing challenges, developing countries like Pakistan need to align their policy discourse in line with their nationally determined contributions, he added.
Dr Waleed suggested that since the world has pledged to phase out of fossil fuels, we need to narrow down the global trends to the Pakistan level where the system and prevailing mechanisms are not supportive but capacity should be utilised to transform this system.
The country needs an autonomous regulator, digitised transmission, and corporate governance model for power sector management, he said, and proposed that “let the market run freely with policy consistency that will garner more investors in the power sector.”
Published in The Express Tribune, January 27th, 2024.