Ailing energy sector - I

Apropos a Business Recorder news item "Work begins on ailing energy sector" carried by the newspaper on September 5 confirms the present government's resolve to correct the serious situation forced on the nation by the past "experts", creating an unenviable one trillion rupees overall circular debt in the energy sector. The recent announcement of ensuring reduction in rampant power (and gas) theft is "bang-on" but would need extensive metering and large honest human force (time to enforce engineering universities' student brigades?). For sure, unless theft is totally discouraged by exemplary punishment, one cannot see this "ailment" being adequately treated!
Earlier, an editorial "Country in quest of energy minister" (BR, August 17) rightly pointed out the criticality of handling the energy portfolio and the essential requirement of "an honest and competent Minister of Energy". Hopefully, this will be ensured since there is no option but to have a competent team, acceptable to all stakeholders, with no political divide on basic issues. We saw this recently in Danish government's signing of Renewable Energy Agreement, jointly supported by nine political parties. In the US, combined Republican and Democrat Senators reintroduced Federal Building Energy Regulations (S.3295). Common national interest must prevail and hopefully, we can have national consensus on essential energy (and water) issues.
Now that the Government of Change is in place, it is certainly not proper to claim that the power sector is in trouble just because sufficient T&D infrastructure was not developed! This is the old story, after making billions in absurd power plants based on imported fuel (both LNG and coal-based). The power sector in an efficient world has changed drastically, especially in the last five years where both efficiency and renewable energy control the decision-making process. Of course, in our greed and quest for power (in physical term), we have messed up even the solar energy projects and the worst possible example in the whole world is low generation and enormous purchase price of solar power from the announced 100 MW solar park in Punjab. We have really set an awful example of expensive and inefficient renewable energy project which may have negative influence on future planning in this essential sector! We surely need solar energy (as, annually, we are blessed with more than 3,000 hours of this free source of clean energy in most part of the country) but at Utility level, we have to accept higher technology which would provide more power (in the same area) and would be effective for longer hours and not just for 8 hours per day, at the best). Economical concentrated solar power (CSP) is available but as a country we are absurdly ignorant in this field also.