@Mav3rick
Although that I wonder if we had many
options through 2010 to 2015 to decide and act on filling the gaps.
Actually, you have hit the nail on the head. By 2008-10, it was clear that Pakistan was facing a serious energy crisis. At THAT point of time, coal and nuclear were the only possible options - solar was way TOO expensive at that point of time and wind too unreliable. Pak policy makers were left with no option but to opt for coal based generation, which now in hindsight looks a bad bet. But as we have discussed earlier, it is easy to be wiser after the event.
We have abundance of sunlight and air corridors which we can utilize to setup hybrid solar/wind power generation systems and if we start now, we can be there in 15-20 years.
I think Pakistan is already working in that direction; in any case events worldwide will push Pakistan in that direction willy nilly.
We do not have money to invest in anything and hence we will need to invite investors to do so on BOT basis.
That is OK. Every modern economy generates power through private capital owned plants.
In the meantime, we need to think out of the box like Brazil and investigate if we can follow a similar line as we also have abundance of sugarcane and corn production to produce ethanol for replacement of imported fuel.
It is certainly worth a thought. But go for sugarcane, not corn, as long as it uses water rationally. Corn is too energy inefficient.
I wonder if dear Niaz sb (
@niaz ) still posts these days. He is better equipped to answer these questions than anyone here.
Regards
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