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Solar power generation has expanded rapidly in recent years and has overtaken nuclear power generation for the first time.
Pakistan’s solar power generation has surpassed 20 percent of the country’s total electricity production. While this transition toward clean energy is a positive development, it is the outcome of an unplanned shift in the country’s energy landscape.
According to the World Nuclear Industry Status Report (WNISR) 2026, solar generation in Pakistan reached an estimated 36.3 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2025. This accounts for roughly 21.6 percent of Pakistan’s total electricity generation after growing about 85 percent in a single year.
The WNISR report offers important background on this transformation. In Pakistan, solar-led power generation has not only expanded rapidly in recent years but has also overtaken nuclear power generation for the first time. The report further notes that Pakistan installed roughly twice as much solar capacity in five years as France managed in a decade.
Moreover, Pakistan imported more than 58 gigawatts (GW) of solar panels from China between the beginning of 2017 and mid-2026. Of this, around 40 GW arrived in just two and a half years, from 2024 to mid-2026. These imports over such a short period illustrate how quickly Chinese solar manufacturing found a major market in Pakistan amid falling panel prices and surging domestic electricity costs.
The surge has made Pakistan the second-largest single-country import market for Chinese solar panels, just behind the Netherlands. This data underscores the scale and speed of the change underway in the country.
Besides, the solar generation figures coming out of Pakistan are likely underestimations for several reasons.
A substantial amount of privately installed solar capacity across the country remains unregistered and does not pass through the state-controlled grid. In many cases, much of this capacity is installed on rooftops and industrial sites, where households and businesses generate and store power for their own use without becoming part of the national grid. This trend has largely been driven by high electricity tariffs, frequent load-shedding and the falling cost of Chinese solar panels. All of this has created a strong incentive for consumers to bypass the national grid system altogether.
While this shift is likely reducing the demand for grid-supplied electricity, it is impacting Pakistan’s power sector challenges and the country’s mounting capacity-related debt significantly.
For instance, as high-usage households, businesses, and industrial consumers leave the national grid, power distribution companies and remaining customers are left to shoulder a heavier burden of fixed costs. This essentially means that capacity payments for underutilized power plants continue in Pakistan. At the same time, overall electricity consumption recorded by distribution companies has declined across the country.
This situation has put coal-based power agreements reached by Pakistan previously with local and international firms under intense scrutiny. While solar adoption is surging across the country, Pakistan remains committed to long-term contracts that require heavy fixed payments to coal plant operators even if their plants remain idle or operate well below capacity. As a result, long-standing power purchase commitments have become a major financial burden for Pakistanis, even as they grapple with pressures due to the current economic strains facing the country.
It is important to note that Pakistan’s 23 loss-making state-owned enterprises accumulated roughly $1.24 billion in losses in the first half of Financial Year 2026. This is roughly equivalent to around $10 million per working day. At the same time, total state-owned enterprises’ debt, excluding sovereign guarantees, rose 14 percent to approximately $36.5 billion.
In this context, the rapid growth of solar power generation is not only a story of clean energy access and cost savings for those who can afford panels, but it is also accelerating financial stress within the formal power sector and complicating efforts to manage circular debt and capacity obligations of the Pakistani state.
For example, for ordinary consumers who remain fully dependent on the national grid, costs will likely continue to rise as the customer base continues to shrink. Meanwhile, for the energy market as a whole, the transition raises fundamental questions about planning, tariff design and the future role of large-scale coal and nuclear power in a system increasingly shaped by solar power generation.
That said, Pakistan’s energy future will depend on better planning and reform by the state. Policymakers should reorganize and renegotiate power-sector contracts and grid management to fit the new reality shaped by widespread solar power generation.
Without proactive reforms, the gap between solar power consumers and the struggling national grid will only continue to widen and strain the economy.
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Pakistan’s solar power generation has surpassed 20 percent of the country’s total electricity production. While this transition toward clean energy is a positive development, it is the outcome of an unplanned shift in the country’s energy landscape.
According to the World Nuclear Industry Status Report (WNISR) 2026, solar generation in Pakistan reached an estimated 36.3 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2025. This accounts for roughly 21.6 percent of Pakistan’s total electricity generation after growing about 85 percent in a single year.
The WNISR report offers important background on this transformation. In Pakistan, solar-led power generation has not only expanded rapidly in recent years but has also overtaken nuclear power generation for the first time. The report further notes that Pakistan installed roughly twice as much solar capacity in five years as France managed in a decade.
Moreover, Pakistan imported more than 58 gigawatts (GW) of solar panels from China between the beginning of 2017 and mid-2026. Of this, around 40 GW arrived in just two and a half years, from 2024 to mid-2026. These imports over such a short period illustrate how quickly Chinese solar manufacturing found a major market in Pakistan amid falling panel prices and surging domestic electricity costs.
The surge has made Pakistan the second-largest single-country import market for Chinese solar panels, just behind the Netherlands. This data underscores the scale and speed of the change underway in the country.
Besides, the solar generation figures coming out of Pakistan are likely underestimations for several reasons.
A substantial amount of privately installed solar capacity across the country remains unregistered and does not pass through the state-controlled grid. In many cases, much of this capacity is installed on rooftops and industrial sites, where households and businesses generate and store power for their own use without becoming part of the national grid. This trend has largely been driven by high electricity tariffs, frequent load-shedding and the falling cost of Chinese solar panels. All of this has created a strong incentive for consumers to bypass the national grid system altogether.
While this shift is likely reducing the demand for grid-supplied electricity, it is impacting Pakistan’s power sector challenges and the country’s mounting capacity-related debt significantly.
For instance, as high-usage households, businesses, and industrial consumers leave the national grid, power distribution companies and remaining customers are left to shoulder a heavier burden of fixed costs. This essentially means that capacity payments for underutilized power plants continue in Pakistan. At the same time, overall electricity consumption recorded by distribution companies has declined across the country.
This situation has put coal-based power agreements reached by Pakistan previously with local and international firms under intense scrutiny. While solar adoption is surging across the country, Pakistan remains committed to long-term contracts that require heavy fixed payments to coal plant operators even if their plants remain idle or operate well below capacity. As a result, long-standing power purchase commitments have become a major financial burden for Pakistanis, even as they grapple with pressures due to the current economic strains facing the country.
It is important to note that Pakistan’s 23 loss-making state-owned enterprises accumulated roughly $1.24 billion in losses in the first half of Financial Year 2026. This is roughly equivalent to around $10 million per working day. At the same time, total state-owned enterprises’ debt, excluding sovereign guarantees, rose 14 percent to approximately $36.5 billion.
In this context, the rapid growth of solar power generation is not only a story of clean energy access and cost savings for those who can afford panels, but it is also accelerating financial stress within the formal power sector and complicating efforts to manage circular debt and capacity obligations of the Pakistani state.
For example, for ordinary consumers who remain fully dependent on the national grid, costs will likely continue to rise as the customer base continues to shrink. Meanwhile, for the energy market as a whole, the transition raises fundamental questions about planning, tariff design and the future role of large-scale coal and nuclear power in a system increasingly shaped by solar power generation.
That said, Pakistan’s energy future will depend on better planning and reform by the state. Policymakers should reorganize and renegotiate power-sector contracts and grid management to fit the new reality shaped by widespread solar power generation.
Without proactive reforms, the gap between solar power consumers and the struggling national grid will only continue to widen and strain the economy.
Umair Jamal is a freelance journalist, independent researcher, and teaching fellow at Forman Christian College, analyzing South Asian security and politics.
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