Pakistan is having rich resource of energy in hydel power; however, only 30 % of total electricity generation is coming from hydro power. Currently we are having near 6500 MW against the hydropower potential over 100,000 MW with identified sites of 60,000 MW.
Pakistan being in the Sunny Belt and is lucky to have long sunshine hours and high insolation levels and is ideally located to take advantage of solar energy technologies. This energy source is widely distributed and abundantly available in the country. The mean global solar insolation falling on horizontal surface ranges between 450-650 watt per m2 per day depending upon location of site. This amounts to about 1500-3000 sun shine hours and 1.9 - 2.3 MWh per m2 per year with annual mean sunshine duration of 8 to 8.5 hours a day and these values are among the highest in the world. Such conditions are ideal for PV and other solar energy applications. We can make use of this freely available and widely distributed solar energy for improving the energy supplies and combating energy requirements.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Colorado USA in collaboration with USAID, PMD and AEDB has carried out detailed analysis to determine solar energy potential in various regions of Pakistan and has solar Map of Pakistan.