The annual per capita commercial energy consumption in Pakistan is only 0.2 TOE (tones of oil equivalent) as compared to the world average of 1.5 TOE and even the developing countries’ average of about 0.4 TOE.
The country’s conventional energy resources are extremely limited. The proven per capita reserves of fossil fuels (including oil, gas and coal) are only about 4 TOE and the hydro potential is just 0.12 KW per capita.
It has been estimated that even for sustaining a moderate economic growth rate of 5 per cent per annum, Pakistan would need 20,00O MW electricity generation capacity by the year 2,000. This implies a gap of about 8,000 MW after making full use of hydro and domestic fuel resources.