Pakistan turns to solar power

KARACHI - After years of crippling power outages, Pakistan is embracing solar and wind power, with a target of generating at least 10 per cent of its energy supply from renewable energy within five years.

Sanaullah Kazi, who runs a chain of schools in Karachi, reckons that with the money saved staying off the grid, he will recover his investment in four years and enjoy free electricity for years after that. The company that sold him the solar set-up has guaranteed it will run for at least 15 years.

Frequent blackouts remain one of Pakistan's biggest public complaints. Outages are felt most acutely in the summer, when sweltering heat pushes up demand for electricity. Between April and July, major cities in this nation of 190 million frequently lack power for 10-12 hours a day.

Read the full article here.