ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning and Development Sartaj Aziz on Tuesday said Pakistan’s heavy dependence on imported energy was the main cause of circular debt, and the country needs a decisive shift to indigenous resources to reduce dependence on imported fuels.

Addressing the two-day International Conference on Sustainable Energy Technologies, Mr Aziz said that an optimum sustainable energy mix has to be evolved with reference to indigenous resources, economic feasibility and environmental impact.

Dasu and Daimer Bhasha hydropower projects will help improve the energy mix to a considerable extent while import of LNG has also helped to alleviate the shortage of gas in the country, Mr Aziz said.

The minister said energy efficiency and conservation through larger investment and improved technologies remains a major challenge.

Simple and sensible steps to ensure energy efficiency and conservation will save money, reduce energy demand and curb CO2 emissions, he stressed.

Mr Aziz said Pakistan has been suffering from a multi-dimensional energy crisis in the past decade. “But in the past three years, a successful effort has been underway to address the energy crisis on a war footings and Pakistan is now emerging from this crisis,” he said.

“The most important thrust of this effort was the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor’s (CPEC) energy package to add 17,000MW to the existing installed capacity of about 20000MW. Of this, about half is the ‘early harvest’ portfolio which will become operational before the end of 2018,” he added.

The two-day conference has been organised by the US-Pakistan Centre for Advanced Studies in Energy — a USAID-funded project implemented in partnership with the University of Engi­neering and Technology, Peshawar.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, US Deputy Chief of Mission to Pakistan, John Hoover said, “Our collaboration with the Higher Education Commission and the University of Engineer­ing and Technology, Pesha­war to advance higher education is guided by a shared conviction that a well-informed and educated Pakistani workforce can better address these challenges and opportunities in Pakistan and in a globalised world.”

As part of USAID’s $127 million US-Pakistan Cen­tres for Advanced Studies Programme, about 100 graduate students and faculty members from UET Peshawar will conduct applied research on energy at Arizona State University by 2019.

The conference brings together energy professionals and policymakers from academia, government, electric power companies, and manufacturing industries to exchange information and share ideas related to sustainable energy technologies.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2017