The document discusses Pakistan's energy security issues and provides recommendations. It notes that Pakistan has faced a severe energy crisis for over a decade due to an imbalance between energy demand and supply. The country relies heavily on energy imports, which impacts its economy, security and stability. To improve energy security, the document recommends that Pakistan develop its indigenous energy sources like coal, wind and solar; increase water storage capacity to generate more hydropower; and utilize nuclear energy to reduce reliance on imports. It also stresses the importance of a consistent energy policy and greater investment to rebuild Pakistan's energy sector.

1. Energy Security of Pakistan
Kashif Mateen Ansari Published October 25, 2023
It is said, “Never waste a good crisis” … and Hilary Clinton added,
“Don’t waste it when it can have a very positive impact on climate
change and energy security.”
Good thing about Pakistan is that we are never short of crises and
surely, we are in the middle of one that is existential in all its forms.
We are looking into a pit that appears to be bottomless but there is
always hope and we must put our house in order.
Out of many facets of this crisis, one is related to energy, but this
crisis has a long history in the making. We have been dealing with a
severe energy crisis for over a decade. Policymakers frequently
oversimplify the problem by blaming power outages, when the
country is dealing with a severe case of energy insecurity that is both
complex and costly. Pakistan’s national security is impeded by a slew
of issues both inside and outside the country. Energy now powers
every sector of the economy; as a result, a country’s energy security
posture has come to shape its economy, foreign policy, and security strategy.
In the modern times World Wars brought forward the concept of energy security and it was first recognized
during the First World War when several battles were fought over energy resources. “God was on the side
of the nation that had the oil,” said Prof. Wakimura of Tokyo Imperial University. Like we are witnessing
today in the Russia-Ukraine war, energy is effectively used as a weapon. Similarly in the 1940s, energy
embargoes crippled opponents. Furthermore, battles were decided by availability of energy resources.
Stalin was quite right when he said, “Engines and octane decided the war”.
The meaning and scope of the term “energy security” have grown significantly over time. Ideally to be
energy secure, a country must be self-sufficient in producing its energy and not rely on imported supplies.
However, that may not be possible for most of the countries in the world so realistically defining, modern
energy security philosophy requires that the energy supply meet three primary criteria; sufficient quantity,
consistent quality, and reasonable cost.
For a country’s energy supply to be considered optimal, three things must be present: first, enough energy
to meet all its needs; second, uninterrupted service; and third a reasonable cost. Not only does this
approach promote energy security, but it also fosters human security and long-term societal growth.

2. These three pillars of energy security are at the heart of modern energy policies around the world, that’s
why we find developed countries’ energy policies based on these fundamental tenets: ensuring reliable
energy supplies, encouraging citizens to use less energy overall, and increasing the use of renewable
energy sources.
Risks to availability of reliable and affordable energy constitute a non-traditional security threat that every
state must take seriously. The provision of reliable and affordable energy supplies for everyone is the
cornerstone of all national and international energy frameworks. From a geostrategic standpoint, energy
security is regarded as critical for national sovereignty. The unexpected rise and fall in energy costs has
shocked the world many times in the last few decades, causing inflation and economic hardship for
hundreds of millions of people. While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a major contributor to the current
insecurity, it’s important to remember that events like these will become the norm rather than the
exception in the coming years. This is because extracting fossil fuels will become more expensive and
difficult and those holding these resources would like to take their pound of flesh not only economically
but by altering the world order to their advantage. In this new era of volatility, developing countries like
Pakistan, which rely heavily on imported energy and struggle to earn enough dollars to meet its external
financing needs, face particularly high levels of risk.
For Pakistan the current situation in all the three modern aspects of energy security is extremely
unfortunate. When we consider the two interconnected aspects of energy security—adequacy and
reliability—it is clear that, while more than a third of the population lacks grid access, those who are
connected have been experiencing severe power outages due to the enormous disparity between demand
and supply. Third, the cost of energy does not paint a rosy picture either. The high cost of energy has a
significant impact on the monthly budgets of middle-class families. While the cost of energy is a problem
in many countries, including the most developed ones, the situation in Pakistan is particularly dire. More
than 10% of the population in several European countries may be suffering from fuel poverty, which has
an impact on indoor thermal comfort. We can determine that well over 95% of Pakistanis are fuel-poor
using the same criteria.
None of these indicators of Pakistan’s energy security is encouraging, it is further aggravated by our
significant reliance on imports, particularly for oil and gas.
Nonetheless, in order to reduce its dependence on imports, Pakistan should have made better use of its
indigenous resources of coal and extensive renewable resources of Wind and Solar. Furthermore, we must
catch up on the lost decades where we made no efforts to increase water storage capacity through
reservoir construction and generating hydel energy. When we talk of breaking free from imported energy
in view of our historical and oft-repeated cycles of foreign exchange shortage we must take nuclear energy
very seriously as a major pillar of our energy generation. It has the potential to assist Pakistan in achieving
energy security in several ways.
Nuclear energy can diversify Pakistan’s energy mix, reducing the country’s reliance on imported fossil fuels
and helping to secure the country’s energy supply. It is a dependable source of baseload power that can
help Pakistan balance its energy mix and improve and increase its usage of intermittent renewable energy
sources.
As Pakistan has limited domestic oil and gas reserves, much of the country’s energy needs are met through
imports. Dependence on foreign exchange reserves makes this aspect even far more important than it

3. appears as a crisis of foreign exchange can derail the energy availability which has a cascading effect on
the economy, security, and sustainability of normal civic order. Nuclear energy can help Pakistan reduce
its reliance on imported fossil fuels, increasing energy independence and reducing country’s vulnerability
to global energy market fluctuations.
Energy security should be prioritized in Pakistan’s energy policy framework and implementation plan. It
would be critical to capitalize on indigenous resources, both conventional and unconventional, while also
conserving and managing energy. While doing so holistic solutions are preferable to improvised ones like
new power plants will be counterproductive unless they can provide affordable electricity. Though
conservation of energy doesn’t appear to be much in the discussion of energy security but it has a very
important role to play. One megawatt saved is one less megawatt of energy that needs to be produced
through imported fuel. By conservative estimates Pakistan can save almost 4000 megawatts of energy
through conservation efforts. In today’s discussion we would not delve much on this aspect leaving it to
be dealt with some other day but energy conservation must be an important pillar of our energy policy.
Energy policies, such as regulations, incentives, and subsidies for various types of energy, have an impact
on a country’s energy security. A transparent and uniform energy policy can provide long-term stability
and predictability for energy markets, allowing investments in energy infrastructure and technology to be
made. We must examine our previous power policies objectively to determine what went wrong and what
helped us. We cannot simply disregard our past performance while investigating the future.
Pakistani policymakers should use the current crisis to rebuild the country’s energy sector. As the cost of
the climate crisis rises, financial institutions, particularly multilateral ones, will provide financial and
technical assistance to countries seeking to accelerate the clean energy transition. To fully capitalise on
this opportunity, Pakistan must use the human resources and skills developed during the first phase of
renewable project development, which provided the country with close to 3,000 MW of energy from wind
and solar.
To address the issue of energy security in a meaningful way, a consistent policy environment is required.
Politics has held Pakistan’s economy and energy policymaking hostage for far too long. This has resulted
in an increase in the country’s risk premium, undermining investor confidence and reducing total
investment. As a result, investors have demanded exorbitant and guaranteed rates of return, which we
have been accommodating regardless of the country’s energy security or economic health.
Pakistan’s failure to address energy security contributed to the country’s economic crisis. With energy
price volatility becoming the norm, stakeholders must work together to implement sensible policies.
Anything less will exacerbate the chaos, increasing the likelihood of domestic insecurity destroying the
country before climate change can.
(The writer is a Harvard Alumni and tweets as @kashif_m_ansari) also the
writer is CEO of a wind power project and can be reached at kashifmateenansari@post.harvard.edu