Abstract
India and Pakistan are facing an acute energy shortage owing to the rapidly growing domestic demand for electricity that has not been met with adequate supply. Both of these developing economies have relied upon natural fuels such as oil, natural gas, and coal for their energy needs. Despite the various restructuring and policy reforms in the power sector, not only has the consumption of energy exceeded production, but the declining reserves of oil and natural gas too emerge as a cause of concern. An analysis of the power generation and demand projections in India and Pakistan brings to light the possibilities of energy cooperation and power trade between the two countries. This cross-border power exchange could take place through a bilateral mode, pool-based mode, or wheeling mode. Though there have been newer initiatives toward building bilateral and regional energy cooperation, this chapter provides policy recommendations for sustaining such energy exchanges in the future.
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Notes
- 1.
Reserves-to-production (R/P) ratio: If the reserves remaining at the end of the year are divided by the production in that year, the result is the length of time that the remaining reserves would last if production were to continue at that rate.
- 2.
Electricity in rural areas can help increase the working hours in the evening, giving time and space for holding adult and other literary classes. Television and radio sets can help in dissemination of useful information to the rural community. Fridges that become possible with electricity can store vaccines, which can improve the health conditions of the community.
- 3.
Respective state and federal governments have owned, operated, and regulated the power entities.
- 4.
A high proportion of losses at the transmission and distribution (T&D) level include nontechnical losses like theft, pilferage, and improper billing. System losses are both nontechnical (pilferage, faulty metering, and billing) and technical (low plant load factor and other operational and technical inefficiencies). T&D losses could be attributed to substantial energy sold at lower voltage, sparsely distributed loads over large rural areas, inadequate investment in the distribution system, improper billing, and high pilferage. Indiscriminate grid extension despite low load densities (as measured by demand in MW divided by the length of the T&D system) has resulted in inefficiencies.
- 5.
For instance, the financial health of State Electricity Boards (SEBs), the most vital buyers of power in India, has been deteriorating over the years. In 1999–2000, of the 30-plus SEBs, only 7 had a positive rate of return (Economic Survey of India 2001–2002).
- 6.
The 12 companies include 8 distribution companies (DISCOs), 3 generation companies (GENCOs), and the national transmission company.
- 7.
The government is currently striving to improve the financial health of WAPDA through a series of measures including streamlining of bill collection, reduction in power theft, and rationalization of power tariffs.
- 8.
- 9.
- 10.
Load forecast helps determine the direction and extent of investments required in the power sector. It is prepared taking into account the nation’s expected economic growth rate, per capita GDP, population projections, consumer affordability (income and price elasticity), industrial growth rate, and historical trends. Load forecast is also essential to formulate financial policies, tariff rate studies, and future fuel requirements.
- 11.
Pakistan currently imports 35 MW of electricity from Iran to meet the requirements of Gwadar, while work on increasing it to 100 MW is underway. The two sides signed an agreement on the project in 2007. Pakistan also has another project in the pipeline for the import of 1,000 MW of electricity from Tajikistan under the Casa-1000 program. The feasibility report of the project has been finalized, and work is expected to be completed by 2016.
- 12.
Sindh consumes 20.2 %, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 11.4 %, and Balochistan 5.5 % (Pakistan Economic Survey 2011–2012, p. 200).
- 13.
On the southwestern border, there are relatively few lines on the Pakistan side of Punjab. The only weak possibility of transmission appears to be in the areas of Fort Abbas and Faqirwali grids in Pakistan Punjab (with relatively low kV) to the Indian lines near Anupgarh.
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Lama, M.P. (2015). India-Pakistan Energy Cooperation: Rethinking Opportunities and Newer Approaches. In: Taneja, N., Pohit, S. (eds) India-Pakistan Trade. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-1949-1_11
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