We conclude that a National Energy Experts Committee (NEEC) should be established under ministry of energy consisting of Energy experts from Academia, Industry, Business, Associations/NGOs and International Experts.
Energy Management Issues, Challenges and Way Forward in Pakistan
Dr. Faiz M Bhutta | Techfa Consulting
Energy is the most important resource for progress and growth of the country. Pakistan is energy deficient country trying its best to come out of energy crisis. The energy issues facing the country are as under,
- Lack of integrated energy planning and demand forecasting seriously worsening gap between energy supply and demand
- Circular debt, amount of cash shortfall within Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) that it is unable to pay to power supply companies
- Imbalanced energy Mix with heavy dependence on oil and gas ( 72% imported)
- Non-utilization of vast indigenous resources of thar coal, solar , wind and hydro potential
- Heavy Transmission /distribution losses and theft
- In adequate revenue collection by DISCOs.
In Pakistan there are many institutions, departments, Councils, Authorities and donors working to resolve the above issues.
WAPDA (Water and Power Development Authority) is working on adding power through deployment of Hydro power plants in Pakistan. The name of Ministry of Water and Power has been changed to Ministry of Energy and Ministry of Energy is working toward adding thermal power plants. NEECA and provincial Energy Efficiency and conservation departments like PEECA are trying to create awareness and promote energy efficiency and conservation in Pakistan. NEPRA (National Electric Power regulation Authority) is trying its best to develop grid codes, standards and power regulations in Pakistan. AEDB (Alternate Energy development Board) is trying to develop alternate and renewable energy policies and regulations to enhance alternate and renewable energy in energy mix in the country. NTDC (National Transmission and Dispatch Company) is working toward enhancing transmission and distribution network in the country for power evacuation from non-renewable and Renewable Energy Power Generation plants in the country. PPIB (Private Power and Infrastructure Board) is trying best to increase facilitation to private investors in Power and provide one window operation.
Industry Associations like REAP, PSA and SQF are trying to promote EE and RE in Pakistan and putting pressure on Government to provide incentives, investor friendly policies and tax exemptions, RE standards development and effective implementation of regulations. International donor agencies like GIZ Pakistan, KFW, World Bank, IFC, European Union and UNIDO are making efforts for provision of funds and technical assistance for enhancing EE and RE share in energy mix of the country. CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor) is US $50 Billion project having more than 60% energy related projects. Recently UNIDO has conducted six EE and RE trainings under their program of Sustainable Energy Imitative for Industries in Pakistan on various segments of energy management targeted toward academia, vendors, policy makers, Top management and Bankers and all trainings have been delivered by world reputed consultants and trainers. These trainings provided awareness to vendors, consultants, Academia and Policy makers on EE and RE so that best energy initiatives should be launched and best energy policies should be developed.
USAID has set up two US Pakistan Center for Advance Studies in Energy at NUST, UET Peshawar where research labs are being established, Research is being undertaken in solar, biomass/Bio-fuel, wind and Hydro sectors, Energy Graduates and PhDs are being produced through these centers and first batch of Energy Graduates have been produced by NUST in April 2018 and these energy graduates can play role in setting up energy policies and regulations in Pakistan.
German NGO “ The Heinrich Boll Stiftung” has recently conducted Energy dialogue on Governance in RE in all provinces and the report reflected the major issue as lack of coordination of provinces with the Federal Government in view of 18Th amendment in constitution, lack of awareness in RE sector and lack of standards for supply and installation of RE systems.
Energy Management is not picking up much because of lack of regulations, laws, financing and incentives and there is no law binding the Industrial, commercial and business sector to implement energy management systems or get ISO 50001certifications. Industries, commercial and domestic sectors are taking no cost and low cost measures like replacement of conventional lights with energy efficiency lighting, preventing leakages and wastes, undertaking preventive and corrective maintenance plans, undertaking calibrations and doing retrofits but there is a need to adopt Energy management Systems ( EnMS) taking into accounts continuous improvements in organization, technology and people.
Despite the above tremendous efforts, still energy issues exist and there is still load shedding of four to six hours in cities and eight to 12 hours in rural areas. There is a need to think that why the energy crisis still exists and where is a gap and what strategies and policies should be developed to overcome energy crisis and making Pakistan a Green and Energy Efficient Pakistan?
Energy and Power policies in practice lacks timely review of policies including review of targets, review strategies, review of implementation, review of funding sources, review of regulations etc. All policies including Renewable Energy policy 2006, Power Policy 2015 etc and there is need of integrated energy policy and Ministry of Energy should take up this matter and establish National Energy Experts Committee (NEEC) and this committee should design and develop one integrated energy policy keeping in view of Energy Situation, Energy sources, Energy regulations, Energy targets, Energy incentives, Energy Financing and most importantly implementation of existing laws and regulations. Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) have developed Building Code of Pakistan 2011, PETSAC (Pakistan Electric and Telecommunication safety code of Pakistan 2014 and Fire code of Pakistan 2015. NEECA has issued national Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act 2016. Implementation of all these policies and regulations is weak and there is a need to set up Implementation Unit at federal and provincial levels to ensure implementation of policies, laws and acts or each department, ministry and authority should set up its implementation units for effective implementation of existing policies, regulations and acts.
What improvements are required in energy sector? Some of the improvements needing action are as under,
- Promote domestic alternate sources of energy including Hydro, solar, wind, local coal, agriculture, biomass/biodiesel etc
- Energy conservation and demand management programs
- Coping with circular debt and better management of power sector financial flows
- Existing power plants to be overhauled to achieve maximum efficiency.
- Undertake policies and programs to improve governance, performance of energy sector entities
- Decrease cost and increase cash flows.
- Ensure operational/financial integrity of the sector
- Implement international best practices undertaking smart metering/automated meter reading (AMR) systems and time of use (TOU) tariff
- Resolve tariff and subsidy disputes between provincial governments and CPPA/DISCOs.
- Penalties for electric thefts
- Fuel allocation policies be introduced
- Reallocation of imported furnace oil with gas into power production
We conclude that a National Energy Experts Committee (NEEC) should be established under ministry of energy consisting of Energy experts from Academia, Industry, Business, Associations/NGOs and International Experts. The committee should be given TOR for review of existing energy situation and development of Integrated Energy Policy and Implementation plan addressing the issues and improvements highlighted in this article.
BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF ENGR. FAIZ MUHAMMAD BHUTTA
Faiz Muhammad Bhutta has done B.Sc Engineering in Electrical from UET. He has done MBA Marketing from IBA Punjab University and MS and PhD in Business Adminstration from VU and AIOU. He has done Post Graduate Diploma in Telecommunication form COMSATS. He has more than 30 years of experience of serving at technical and managerial posts in national and multinational companies. Apart from his professional career, he has served as visiting teacher on engineering and management subjects in Air University, COMSATS University and UMT. He is running his own consulting frim with the name of Techfa Consulting.
He has contributed as member PEC Task force on Building Energy Code 2011, Pakistan Electric and Telecommunication Safety Code 2014 and Fire Code of Pakistan 2016.
He was First Chairman of Pakistan Solar Association (PSA) and First Chapter Chairman of REAP. He is a master trainer at his own Pakistan Renewable Academy (PRENAC). He has so far trained more than 2000 persons in Pakistan on Solar Energy and desinged various solar system ( off-grid, Hybrid and On-Grid) varying from 1 KW to 2 MW.
He is member of International Solar Society Germany (ISES), Life member of PEC, Life Member of IEP, Life member of IEEEP, Member of HVACR Society, Member of PGBC, Member of MAP and member of ASHRAE USA.
He is a master trainer from GIZ Pakistan on solar. He got TOT training on Solar from RENAC Berlin. He got TOT on energy Management from UNIDO Pakistan. He is also a resoruce person on CPD program on Solar from Pakistan Engineering Council. He also got 20 days training from China –HNAC on Planning, construction and Management of Small and Medium Hydro Power Plants.
He is a writer & Trainer on Renwable Energy and his articles are published in Daily DAWN, Altenergy Mag USA, EIR, HVACR Journal, TechnoBiz, Energy Update, Engineering Horizon and Business Mag etc.
He has attended lot of national and international EXPO and Conferences on Alternate Energy in China and Germany. He can be approacehd at faiz.bhutta@gmail.com
The content & opinions in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of AltEnergyMag
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