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PAKISTAN is undergoing an extraordinary and largely unplanned energy transition. According to recent reports, Pakistan has become the world’s second-largest importer of solar panels this year. The numbers are staggering: between 2022 and 2024, annual imports of Chinese-made panels surged nearly fivefold to 16 gigawatts (GW).
In the first nine months of 2025 alone, Pakistan imported another 16GW. By the end of the year, the country’s cumulative imports will roughly match the installed capacity of the entire national grid.
This explosion in rooftop solar panels has already begun to transform how Pakistanis consume electricity. Since 2022, demand for grid power has fallen sharply as households, businesses and farmers have shifted to the less expensive solar energy.
However, while solar consumers are benefiting, the national grid is approaching a crisis. Capacity payments to independent power producers (IPPs) — fixed charges that must be paid whether or not electricity is consumed — continue to rise.
