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Journal of Environmental Accounting and Management 5(4) (2017) 357--383 | DOI:10.5890/JEAM.2017.12.007

Syed Aziz Ur Rehman$^{1}$, Yanpeng Cai$^{1}$,$^{2}$, Mohammad Nafees$^{3}$, Gordhan Das Walasai$^{4}$,$^{6}$, Nayyar Hussain Mirjat$^{5}$,$^{6}$, Wajid Rashid$^{1}$

$^{1}$ State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

$^{2}$ Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainable Communities, University of Regina, Regina Saskatchewan, Canada

$^{3}$ Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Peshawar, 25000 Peshawar, Pakistan

$^{4}$ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Quaid-e-Awam University of Engineering, Science and Technology, Nawabshah, Pakistan

$^{5}$ Department of Electrical Engineering, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan

$^{6}$ Energy and Environmental Engineering Research Group, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan

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Abstract

Pakistan is currently facing energy crisis in the form of electricity and natural gas load shedding due to the insufficient availability of indigenous fossil fuels. On the other hand, the country possesses huge renewable energy resources (RERs) which are merely harnessed due to lack of institutional and governmental support. This paper is designed to discuss the past and current energy demand and supply situation in the country followed by an assessment of the potential for RERs which can be harnessed for meeting energy demand of the country. An extensive literature review is undertaken in this study, focusing therein the potential of RERs in the country covering hydel, solar, wind, biomass and geothermal energy resources. It is revealed from this review that the highest potential out of all RERs exist for solar energy, i.e. 2900 GW followed by wind energy 346 GW, hydropower 100 GW and biomass energy 12.74 GW. Besides, it is observed that the highest number of ongoing potential energy projects pertain to mega hydropower generation. The research concludes that Pakistan needs to invest more and more in hydel energy and keep the pace of research and investment in the solar and wind energy as much as possible so that country indigenously self-sufficient and economically viable for all types of RERs in the long run.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFC0502209), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51522901), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. The authors would also extend the appreciation to the anonymous reviewers and editors for their constructive comments for improving the paper.

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