QUETTA: Energy experts told a conference here on Monday that Panjgur and Chagai districts of Balochistan have the potential to produce thousands of megawatts of renewable electricity from wind and solar panels but financial, administrative and political issues are hampering using these resources to resolve power crisis in the province.

They highlighted various problems being faced by the people in the province such as low level of access to electricity, high electricity costs and long hours of load-shedding, and said that the most effective option to address these problems is to produce electricity from renewable resources close to where the people need it.

They said that Balochistan-based electricity projects in general and renewable energy projects being planned in the province, in particular, get neglected because of the bad law and order situation, lack of policy preparation and policy planning at the provincial level and the absence of coordination between provincial and federal government officials.

The conference titled, ‘Balochistan’s Renewable Energy Journey: Making Accessible, Affordable and Sustainable Power in the Province’, was organised by the Institute for Development Studies and Practices (IDSP), a non-governmental organisation working in Balochistan since 1998.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2023