Articles of September 2009

Pakistan Government and PEPCO are making all possible efforts to exploit maximum electricity generation sources to bridge the existing demand and supply gap. The electricity demand has risen to almost 17000 MW in the recent days owing to huge domestic, industrial, commercial and agricultural consumption. Particularly, due to abrupt change in life styles; the extensive use of home appliances has considerably enhanced the electricity demand. This situation has led to the dire need of using alternate sources of energy, particularly the solar potential as an important alternative source of energy .

The earth receives an incredible supply of solar energy – the sun provides sufficient energy in one minute to meet the world's energy demand for a full year. In one day it provides more than our current population would consume in 27 years. Solar energy is produced by the sun light and not the heat and is based on the production and function of solar cells which are called photovoltaics (PV); the word Photo meaning light and voltaics electricity. The life of a solar panel is approximately 20 to 25 years.

In Pakistan Only three energy sources, i.e. gas, oil and hydro, account for 93% of the total primary energy supplies of 51 MTOE (2003-04) in Pakistan. The share of coal in primary energy is very low – only 6%. The share of nuclear power in