Renewable Energy Potential in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Abstract

Energy is a prerequisite for sustainable development in todays world. Pakistan is a developing country in the South East Asia with a population of more than 210 million. Pakistan is highly dependent on imported oil and gas since a long time. The share of installed renewable energy capacity uptil now is 6%. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. KP is blessed with a significant amount of renewable energy potential which includes hydroelectric, solar, wind and biomass. This paper starts with Pakistan’s energy scenario including the current energy supply and demand gap. It is then followed by a discussion on the renewable energy potential across KP. Hydropower alone has a total potential of around 25000 MW. Average daily solar radiation for KP is found to be 4.99kWh/m/day It was found that daily solar radiation remains high in the summer season from April-July and then falls in the winter season. In KP, Mardan receives the highest daily solar radiation in June and Chitral receives the lowest daily solar radiation in December. The province is also blessed with biomass. KP has total livestock population of 43 million including cows, buffaloes, sheep and goats. Waste from animals can be converted into biogas which can be used for cooking and heating purposes. Some parts of the province like Malakand, Buner, Haripur have also some wind potential which is enough to provide electricity to the nearby villages and communites. The paper then discusses reasons for energy shortfall followed by short term and long term measures that can be adopted by KP government to tackle energy crisis. Keywords— renewable energy, hydroelectric, solar energy, wind energy, biomass, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa