When most of the countries in Europe and western hemisphere still suffer shivering cold and bleak climate, the plains and plateaus in Pakistan down from Potohar to Cholistan and Thar to Kharan deserts experience bright daylight and sizzling heat as sun rises on the skies of this land of pure with full might in summer.

There is no denying the fact that there are abundant natural resources in every part of the country, including coal reserves sprawling over millions of hectors land in Sindh, uranium and iron reserves in Punjab and gas and precious stones in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. The Northern Areas and the North Waziristan are benevolently rich in all kind of mineral resources, including gold. The worth of the natural resources in Pakistan is said to be more than the collective oil and gas reserves of the entire Middle East region, including Iran.

Despite the fact that our people are endowed with best brains in the world, we have failed to tap any of the natural gifts, including solar energy to change the lot of this nation.

Solar energy is cheap and easily accessible source of alternative energy and its attainment is not a rocket science. But it has become our national character to sit in limbo and wait for a saviour to guide us to the right direction.

The country has been facing the worst energy crisis for the last many years, but not a single political leader who matters came forward with a feasible plan to extricate the nation out of crisis. Instead of finding cheap alternative energy resources, the maximum achievement of our political governments and bureaucratic machinery was to purchase expensive electricity on one pretext or the other. Billions of dollars have been burnt in power units set up in the private sector in cahoots with the government officials. As a result, the nation lags behind even the developing nations in the region such as India and Malaysia and the energy crisis severely battered our economy, especially the industrial and textile sectors. We lost foreign buyers, we lost foreign exchange, and we generated unemployment in bulk.

Solar energy and world trends:

The magnitude of sunlight that falls on earth is 120,000 TW (terawatt or trillion watt) whereas the potentials of solar energy in Pakistan is around 2.9-TW. The development of alternative energy resources, especially for a country like Pakistan is very important with the solar energy as the best option to cater to the need of the country’s industrial and domestic requirements.

There is also a growing trend all over the world to develop environment-friendly and clean sources of energy and curtail dependence on oil and gas to produce electricity. Many countries where the natural resources are depleting at a fast rate are developing alternative means of electricity production and on the top of the list of the renewable energy sources is solar power.

Currently, many European countries and the United States are shifting their focus from thermal power to solar power and have become promising markets for the solar energy suppliers such as China, which has emerged as the largest solar panel supplier in recent years.

As regard to Pakistan, there is an urgent need to develop indigenous solar technology or at least develop partnership with China or Malaysia to produce photovoltaic cells in the country.

Panels and photovoltaic cells:

A solar panel is made of photovoltaic cells or semiconductors -- commonly known as silicon -- which allow light to be converted into electricity, says Ahmed Saeed, an electrical engineer, in a private company which offers solar power solutions. He adds that the sunlight contains photons, which the semiconductors absorb and create electrons within the panel.

Elaborating further, he says that electrons have a tendency to break away to release their charge. As a solar panel provides an electrical field, it allows the electrons to flow toward an external system or device that can be used to create energy. According to Saeed the government has banned the manufacturing of photovoltaic cells in Pakistan due to the reasons best known to those who matter.

But Khalid Islam, director general of the Pakistan Council of Renewable Energy, says that the only option for us is to import cells from China. Talking to TNS by telephone, he dispelled the impression that the government has banned the manufacturing of photovoltaic cells in Pakistan. "It is absurd to even think like that," he said, adding that many European countries and even the United States imports cells from China which are cost-effective. "A photovoltaic cell which was available for Rs350 a couple of years ago now costs around Rs150," he said. He said that one gigawatt electricity is required to run a photovoltaic cell plant.

Solar energy and Pakistan:

Pakistan receives trillions of watts solar energy per day due to its vast plains and clear skies and there is a tremendous scope to establish solar parks on the desert land across the country and can easily fill the needs of Karachi, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan, Bahawalpur, and several other cities.

The Punjab government has already started mega projects in various parts of the province in cooperation with China. The generation of solar energy is also necessary in view of difficulties in distribution of electricity across the country where 65 per cent of the population lives in remote villages, mostly in Balochistan without any access to the luxury of electricity. A large amount of funds are required to link those villages with national electricity grid and it is not possible in the foreseeable future. The only option left to acquire electricity is solar energy.

"The government is effectively trying to import solar panels to complete the ongoing projects, but is not sincere in developing indigenous solar technology or import technology from China," says Imran Shafqat Butt, an IT professional, who runs a small solar solution providing company. "When Chinese companies are willing to transfer technology to Pakistan, why to import panels," he says, adding that a Chinese company was willing to install a photovoltaic cell plant in Pakistan costing Rs 40 million.

A million dollar question:

A war between the United States and China over the import of solar products has just finished after the US Department of Commerce levied substantial tariffs in its just-announced preliminary finding in the Chinese solar module trade investigation. On another note, India has also curtailed the imports of solar products from China and the United States to protect its indigenous solar industry.

In the current scenario, why Pakistan has started wholesale import of solar products from China when the Chinese companies are willing to invest in Pakistan and transfer technology is a million dollar question. Only some planning is required and we will not only be able to fulfill the country’s energy needs, but would also emerge as the biggest solar energy producer in the world, if we start manufacturing solar cells.