Rising temperature contributes to energy crisis in Pakistan: experts

LAHORE: The rising temperature in Pakistan has contributed its part in energy crisis in recent years and the situation in future may become severe, said power sector experts.

They said the increasing demand with rising temperatures cannot be ruled out as Pakistan is witnessing climatic changes and energy is needed to survive.

The energy sector expert Muhammad Khalid said the possible impacts of rising temperature in the world suggest that 1.9 percent - 5.8 percent of transmission line capacity is reduced due to risen temperatures. There is also a possible rise of 4.2 percent - 15 percent in peak per-capita summertime loads on average due to increases in ambient air temperature.

He said the same case is true in Pakistan, as many power outages are just because of the tripping of high tension and low tension feeders due to overloading and due to demand as well as the severe weather conditions.

According to the Global Climate Change Index 2018, Pakistan is the 7th most vulnerable country to global climate change. Where other sectors of Pakistan are prone to increase temperature, droughts, floods and heat waves, the electrical power sector is also badly exposed to these calamities.

Another expert Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhary explained that average temperature of Pakistan is rising and may increase 2-3 percent at the end of this year. He has noted a decreasing trend in energy demand in European countries due to the global warming temperature of +2 Centigrade.

Similarly, due to climate change, heavy rainfalls in recent years are becoming common. Every year, there is a flood of variable magnitude in some parts of the country. These heavy rains cause floods and these floods damage the electrical power sector across the country.

The experts were of the view that there is a prolonged energy crisis in Pakistan which has resulted in the stagnant economic growth of the country and slowed down the development across the country. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the per-capita consumption of electricity in Pakistan is 488kWh against world's average energy consumption of 3052 KWh which is roughly one-sixth of the world average consumption of electricity. Despite such low demand, Pakistan has been suffering energy crisis for many years.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020