ONE of the first major milestones in the development of renewable energy was way back in 1979, when US president Jimmy Carter installed 32 solar panels on the roof of the White House in order to power a water-heating system.

Clunky, inefficient and expensive by today’s standards (they weighed 45 kilos each and cost a whopping $28,000 to install) these panels served to heat water for the White House until they were removed during the Reagan administration, undoubtedly as a signal that the new Republican president preferred good old fossil fuels to these hippie-inspired and possibly commie ideas like sustainability and environmentalism.

The panels went into storage until at least one of them ended up in a museum in China. There’s a certain irony to that, as China is currently leading the world when it comes to scaling up renewable energy, with twice as many solar and wind projects under construction as the rest of the world combined.

Right now, China has 180GW of solar power under construction along with 159GW of wind power, which far outshines the comparatively measly 40GW under construction in the US. In the first half of this year, China’s clean energy generation has already exceeded the total amount of energy produced by the UK in a year from all sources.

Existing projects are also being expanded, like the Caipeng photovoltaic power station, which holds the record for being the highest solar power plant in the world, and the Xinjiang solar farm, which has the capacity to power all of Papua New Guinea for an entire year.

In fact, according to Reuters, China has installed so many solar panels that they’re generating more energy than the country’s storage and transmission infrastructure can handle! And because China just refuses to think small, it is also manufacturing practically all of the world’s equipment for producing solar panels and — because synergy is a good thing — is also now making over half of all new electric cars sold worldwide.

The US is, of course, trying to catch up and one landmark there is that for the first time, the US has this year produced more electricity from wind and solar than it does from coal.

It’s not just the richer countries that are taking advantage of this energy revolution. In fact, the push for renewables could be a lifesaver for poorer countries saddled with high fuel import bills for power production.

Here Uruguay stands out as a great example; this South American country was highly reliant on imported oil and gas-based power and, much like Pakistan, greatly suffered from financial shocks whenever the prices of these commodities spiked.

Already at full capacity when it came to hydel power and unwilling to set up nuclear power plants that would rely on imported uranium, Ramón Méndez Galain, Uruguay’s then director of energy, decided to bet on wind and solar power. He financed this by holding a series of clean power auctions where the private sector was offered long-term contracts at guaranteed rates, resulting in $6 billion being invested in renewables in just five years.

In short, he went for the IPP route, only with a focus on renewable energy and with undoubtedly more reasonable terms than we got here in Pakistan. Now Uruguay is reaping the dividends of this approach, with energy production costs having been cut in half and new jobs being created by the clean energy sector.

Perhaps as importantly, Ramón’s vision has also practically insulated his country from the shocks of foreign wars and resultant supply issues; from July 2023 to April 2024, Uruguay ran entirely on renewable energy!

There are certainly lessons here for Pakistan, which also pays far too high a price for fuel imports and is unable to withstand any financial shocks, resulting from high prices of imported fuel.

Like Uruguay, we too are primed to take advantage of the natural bounties of wind and solar power, and thankfully, we can now see significant movement in that direction. Recently, K-Electric announced its intention of setting up renewable power projects of a combined 640MW and bidding has already begun on one of these projects, a 150MW solar plant in Balochistan for which they received Pakistan’s lowest tariff bid of PKR 11.2 per unit, establishing a new precedent in the Pakistani renewable space. The strong interest from international and local investors in the solar projects not only demonstrates Pakistan’s investment potential but also promises significant economic benefits. In addition to this the Sindh government is planning a 550MW floating solar energy project at Keenjhar lake and similar projects are underway across the country and when these are online, Pakistan’s energy sector may finally have its day in the sun.

Some may wonder why we are adding capacity when we can’t seem to be able to pay for the capacity we already have (and in many cases aren’t even using) but we have to understand that there are no quick fixes, and that moving towards renewables in a big way will definitely help us save big bucks in the future.

The writer is a journalist.

X: @zarrarkhuhro

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2024