Managing energy

This refers to the letter, ‘Energy ideas’ (June 29, 2019) by Syed Hammad Ali. The writer has highlighted the energy crisis through which Pakistan is going these days. Despite rising demand for energy, no worthwhile steps have been taken by successive governments to install new capacity for generation of the required energy sources. Since demand exceeds supply, hence ‘loadshedding’ is a common phenomenon through frequent power shutdowns. This shortage of energy which is about 4000-6000MW per day is not only affecting the quality of life of common citizens but is also resulting in slow production capabilities of industry, and minimal commercial activities. The government’s efforts to conserve energy through loadshedding, two weekly holidays, early closure of markets etc have not yielded any significant results. Importing energy from Iran and the Central Asian Republics is going at a snail’s pace due to external political pressures and strategic interests. Pakistan is thus in need of energy very badly and that too urgently. If it fails to achieve the required targets, then all other indicators will go negative leaving behind a disastrous situation.To overcome the energy crisis our objective should be utilization of diversified energy resources. It is imperative that the existing renewable energy be used judiciously and efforts made to explore new ones along with establishing conventional thermal and coal fired power plants. Our emphasis should be to exploit our indigenous resources. The furnace IPP and captive power plants should be allowed to import furnace oil duty free so that the existing power plants become operational. Although the present US-Iran political stand-off has made it difficult for Pakistan, still all efforts should be made that Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project is implemented at the earliest. An additional pipeline for crude oil should be installed to reduce our dependence on the sea route. A dedicated campaign of energy conservation is needed to spread the awareness of energy conservation among consumers. Energy conserved is indeed energy produced. Efforts must be made to reduce the very high line losses in the electric power transmission lines and strict penalties imposed on power theft. To meet the immediate energy requirements, the best option is exploiting wind and solar energy.Group Captain (r) Saeed Nawaz KhanRawalpindi

from The News International - Newspost https://ift.tt/2NryqOg