Abstract:
God has blessed Pakistan with tremendous potential of solar energy, despite that the share of solar energy in the energy mix is less than 2%. In the wake of slow growth of solar energy various policy and institutional arrangements have been made such as net metering regulations for solar energy projects having capacity less than 1 MW and cost-plus tariff for mega solar energy projects. Even with those arrangements in place share of solar energy was very low. Moreover, the socio-economic impacts of these solar projects have not been assessed, whether they were useful or not. Based on these insights, this paper investigates the barriers and socio-economic impacts of both domestic and mega solar energy projects to overcome these research gaps. Therefore, in this study primary data was collected from three key stakeholders: Prosumers; Solar companies and industrial experts. And secondary data was acquired in the form of published reports, papers and other documents related to the solar energy barriers and their socio-economic impacts. The analysis indicated, at domestic level main barriers are delays in net metering application process, unavailability of energy meters, bribery and low staff at distribution company, while in mega projects are inconsistent regulatory policies, weak grid infrastructure and lack of coordination mechanism between different institutes. Solar energy has positive socio-economic impacts. The identification of these results is critical for developing policies in Pakistan for the rapid uptake of Solar energy.
