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Pakistan, as an underdeveloped and populous country requires an uninterrupted source of energy to keep its development on track and provide its citizens with a reasonable standard of living. Conversely, the country is unable to fulfil its domestic energy requirements and is undergoing an acute energy crisis. Electricity is a sector that has suffered the most from the energy shortages. The gap between demand and supply is met through blackouts and, at times, the country plunges into darkness for more than 10–12 h a day. This crisis, that the country is currently facing, did not occur overnight. The root cause of this debacle goes back in history and can be attributed to decades of mismanagement, poor planning and negligence. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the electricity sector in Pakistan and the issues it is beset with. In addition, an analysis of the energy policies that the country has announced over the years, as well as the impact that they have had on the electricity sector, is presented. It is concluded that Pakistan’s existing energy mix is not sustainable due to the excessive reliance on imported fossil fuels, rising electricity generation cost and increase in power generation related emissions. This paper develops a roadmap and proposes the energy sources that can fulfil the country’s rising energy requirements, whilst being sustainable at the same time. The roadmap identifies and highlights the primary tasks that the country must undertake to reach its vision of meeting its energy needs and integrating renewable energy sources in the power generation. The recommendations of this paper will provide guidelines to the decision-makers and policymakers, with an insight on how the energy technology and resource development should be carried out, which sources should be given priority and how the issues should be resolved, both in the short and long-term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The population of Pakistan is increasing rapidly and hence the energy demand. Since ninety׳s, people of Pakistan has been experiencing load shedding because of the intense shortfall throughout the country. Pakistan, being an agricultural country, has a lot of potential of renewable energy sources especially biomass. The thing is to utilize the potential in a right direction. This paper presents the policy direction to get rid of the current energy crisis in the country through utilization of different types of biomass. The animal manure, municipal solid wastes and the crop residues are the main biomass sources in the country. This study also focuses the potential of main biomass sources present in the country and its technical routes for the production of bioenergy. The design parameters for standard bioreactor of gasifier and anaerobic digestion and their economic comparison are highlighted with respect to Pakistan environmental conditions. The development of anaerobic digestion technology is reviewed critically. This paper also discusses the different scenarios for the use of biomass sources in urban and rural environment. This verifies the use of biogas energy as the cheapest and the safest way to remove the crisis from the country. The stand-alone biogas plants should be constructed throughout the country where there is not electrification infrastructure exists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper deals with fundamental policy mistakes in Pakistan for the cause of sustainable development through renewable energy. It then identifies that the low level of awareness regarding the potentials of renewable energy is the key hurdle in achieving the said cause. The paper further traces the root cause of this low awareness in educational and S&T policies of Pakistan and finally provides some recommendations to avoid dilemmas related to such policies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]