The latest report from Renewables First shows that solarization in Pakistan continues to grow, with households, farms and businesses turning to distributed solar energy to reduce their dependence on the electricity grid.
According to a new report from Renewables First, Pakistan had deployed an estimated 51 GW of solar power by March 2026, while imports of solar panels reached 54 GW by the end of the same month.
Image: Renewable energy first
The latest edition of the think tank’s flagship report, Pakistan Electricity Survey 2026notes that electrification in Pakistan is accelerating through distributed solar installations, despite grid-based indicators pointing to stagnation.
Figures in the report show that electricity production from utility-scale energy sources in Pakistan reached 135 TWh in the period from July 2024 to June 2025, known as financial year 2025 (FY25), representing a 2% year-on-year decline. This is the fourth consecutive decline in dependence on utility-scale electricity generation, peaking at 154 TWh in fiscal year 2022 (FY22).
Apart from these figures, distributed solar, comprising net metering, behind-the-meter and off-grid solar, generated 51 TWh in FY25, bringing Pakistan’s total electricity generation to a record 186 TWh. According to the Renewables First report, the 51 TWh generated last financial year corresponds to approximately 46% of the electricity supplied by the grid in the same period.
Image: Renewable energy first
During a webinar launching the report earlier today, Renewables First Associate – Energy Insights, Nabiya Imran, explained that the new growth in electricity is increasingly being captured by distributed solar. “It will be done off the grid,” Imran said. “Or in other words: the demand that was previously entirely on the grid has migrated to behind-the-meter and net-metered distributed solar energy.”
The report adds that grid sales, defined as electricity purchased by consumers from the state’s central utility network, reached 111 TWh in FY25, up 1.7% year-on-year but lower than the peak in FY22. “TThis does not reflect declining demand for electricity,” the report explains. “Instead, a growing share of consumption is being met through distributed solar, indicating that underlying electricity consumption continues to rise but is increasingly off-grid.”
Image: Renewable energy first
Renewable Energy Sources The first latest report follows earlier research that highlighted the size of Pakistan’s solar energy market underrepresented in official statistics. In today’s webinar, Imran explained that there are currently two parallel systems operating in Pakistan.
“On the one hand, we have the centralized electricity grid, which is structured around unidirectional energy flows, thermal power plants and thermal dependency. At the same time, we have consumers who are increasingly investing in distributed solar energy, driven by high electricity rates and cheaper solar panel costs,” Imran told the audience. “So there is a mismatch between these two systems. The goal is to bridge that mismatch, because that will help us reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and improve macroeconomic resilience.”
Imran added that clean technologies such as solar energy, batteries and electric vehicles are also an opportunity to localize production. “And in turn, it supports the country’s broader economic development,” she said.
In the foreword to the report, Sohaib Malik, Senior Fellow – Energy Transitions at Renewables First, writes that while policymakers are beginning to recognize the challenges facing the country’s centralized model of energy generation and supply, most stakeholders are yet to assess the full extent of the shift due to the incomplete and inaccurate data sets available to them.
The report adds that the sector is in flux as distributed solar revenues erode energy revenues faster than thermal capacity can be rationalized to a turning point with insufficient policy frameworks to navigate it.”
“The industry’s turning point will depend on how quickly planning and policy frameworks adapt to decentralized, bidirectional electricity flows,” the report said. “A shift in focus from capacity expansion to system optimization (flexibility, storage and demand side management) will be critical to improving efficiency and reducing costs.”
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