Pakistan’s solar boom and the challenge for the gridCEFR A2
18 Dec 2025
Adapted from Qian Sun, Global Voices • CC BY 3.0
Photo by Muhammad Nauman Iqbal, Unsplash
Since 2023 Pakistan has faced severe annual heatwaves that sometimes collapse the national electricity grid. Rising tariffs and frequent outages pushed households and small businesses to use rooftop and small-scale solar as a more stable source of power.
In the 2024 fiscal year Pakistan imported 16 gigawatts of solar panels, more than triple the 4.9 GW imported the year before. By mid-2025 cumulative imports reached roughly 36 GW, about three-quarters of the country’s total installed generation capacity. Cheap panels let villages and cities run fans, pumps and small appliances during heatwaves, but the country still lacks local manufacturing and so depends on imports.
A 10 percent tax on solar panels in 2024 aimed to protect grid revenue but did not slow demand. Many people also buy batteries to store power, although poorer households often need special financing.
Difficult words
- heatwave — a long period of very hot weatherheatwaves
- tariff — a tax on imported goods or servicestariffs
- outage — a period when electricity is not availableoutages
- rooftop — the top area of a building used for equipment
- import — to bring goods into a country for saleimported
- manufacturing — the process of making products in factories
- battery — a device that stores electrical energy for later usebatteries
- financing — money or loans to help people buy things
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- How could batteries help your home during an electricity outage?
- Do you think local manufacturing of solar panels is important? Why or why not?
Related articles
Bad Bunny Shines Light on Puerto Rico's Power Crisis
At Super Bowl LX Bad Bunny used his halftime show to highlight Puerto Rico's fragile electricity grid. The island still faces frequent outages since Hurricane Maria, and efforts range from privatisation to community solar projects.
Action still needed to end hunger and change food systems
Experts say stronger action is needed after the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit. They note progress in research and national plans, but rising conflicts, climate extremes and funding limits put progress at risk. A stocktake will take place in Ethiopia this month.
Molecule stores sunlight and releases heat on demand
Chemists at UC Santa Barbara designed a modified molecule called pyrimidone that captures sunlight, stores it in chemical bonds and releases it as heat when triggered. Tests released enough heat to boil water under normal conditions.
