ISLAMABAD, March 27: Official planners have advised the government to rapidly shift away from fossil fuels to alternate energy sources, including nuclear, wind and solar energy.

The sources said on Monday that the government had been told to urgently devise a strategy to meet the situation arising out of an anticipated decline in natural gas production by 2010.

Planners, especially in the Planning Commission and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, wanted the government to accelerate negotiations with China for acquiring two more 650MW nuclear power plants to meet growing domestic energy requirements.

“Now, when we have been officially informed by Americans that they are not interested in concluding a nuclear deal like that of India, the country is left with no option, at least for the time being, but to speed up its talks with the Chinese over the issue,” a source said.

Fast depleting gas reserves and rising oil prices demand that the government reduce the current heavy dependence on natural gas for industry, power generation and commercial and household use, official sources said, adding that alternate energy sources would have to be urgently explored.

In all cases, it is understood that true costs would need to be worked out for all competing norms of present and future energy — coal and its derivatives (add health costs), hydro-electric plants in the Northern Areas (contribution to and danger from seismic activity), nuclear (waste handling, de-commissioning, and availability of fissionable material), solar cells (monopolies, and toxic wastes from production), fuel cells (secondary source costs), wind energy (low availability and storage issues which it shares with solar), fusion (time factor), ethanol (grow more sugarcane or use the water for something else).

According to the Planning Commission, an energy trend suggests the possible shift from gasoline-engine vehicles to hybrid ‘flex fuel’ vehicles which can run on at least two fuels (from gasoline, CNG and bio-fuels) and electric storage.

Realizing the critical importance of energy in rapid and sustainable growth, the government had set up a task force to prepare a comprehensive report. However, the Planning Commission believed that it would be important to stay on course for implementing the Energy Security Plan. Depending upon the actual progress, the plan should be regularly reviewed and updated to keep the economy on high growth trajectory, it said.

Currently, the per capita energy consumption is low in Pakistan - 14 million British Thermal Units (BTUs) against 92 million BTUs for Malaysia. The total primary energy consumption is currently 55 million tons of oil equivalent (MTOE), which is expected to rise to 360 MTOE in the next 25 years.

The PC is of the view that Pakistan’s development perspective for an expanded economy, increased industrialisation and elevated standards of living will demand enormous amounts of energy; and links between sustainable development and energy will require major efforts for long-term energy security.