Nowadays, the sight of solar panels perched on rooftops has become commonplace in Pakistan. According to an analysis published by Renewables First and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air earlier this year, Pakistan has gone from importing less than one gigawatt (GW) of solar modules in 2018 to more than 51GW by early 2026. It estimated that the boom had already spared the country more than $12 billion in oil and gas imports by February.

For a country long held hostage to load-shedding and rising tariffs, rooftop panels are a manifestation of the age-old adage: necessity is the mother of invention.

But it appears that the boom has outrun the system built to absorb it. In 2026, the power regulator moved from “net metering” to “net-billing”, under which solar prosumers buy power from the grid at standard retail rates but sell excess solar energy back at a much lower rate.

The shift has raised demand for batteries as households and businesses look to store the power they generate instead of selling it back to the government. It also shows how the energy of the sun can be harnessed in ways to address the plethora of issues the people of the country are facing.

At the recently held Solar Pakistan Exhibition in Karachi — which brought together solar technology, solar power solutions, renewable energy innovations and sustainable energy products — innovation was in full display. Specifically, it showed how to use solar power to address issues around commuting, cooking and obtaining drinking water.

Battery-swapping stations for electric vehicles

With the US-Israeli war on Iran and its effects on global oil prices showing no signs of abating, electric vehicles (EVs) have now started trickling onto the roads in Pakistan. According to a recent Dawn report, around 150,000 electric bikes and scooties were sold across the country in 2025.

The report, however, noted that despite this, EV sales were still not comparable to motorcycle sales: a CD70 costs Rs168,000, while a proper lithium-powered electric bike costs more than Rs300,000.

At the Solar Pakistan Exhibition held on October 10, Bahum Global PVT, a solar service company, introduced its EV bikes with a unique answer to both the cost and the battery degradation problem: battery-swapping stations.

One problem EV owners have complained of is the battery “dying” like that of a phone, which makes many wary of being stranded en route.

To cater to this issue, Zafar Khan, the general manager of Bahum, told Dawn that the company is in talks with petrol pump brands like Pakistan State Oil (PSO), Shell and Total to install battery-swapping stations. The electric bikes themselves will be manufactured in Pakistan, which will hopefully cut the taxation costs as well.

This way, instead of leaving the battery on charge overnight or having to abruptly halt a journey due to the battery running out of charge, an EV owner can stop at a nearby petrol pump with a swapping facility and exchange the drained battery for one that is charged one at a fixed cost.

After a successful pilot at the PSO petrol pump in Lahore’s Cantt area, Bahum is set to launch the EVs and battery-swapping stations throughout Pakistan in December 2026.

Rocket Choolha

It is the story of every household: cooking gas vanishes from the kitchens like a wisp of smoke into the night as soon as the clock strikes nine. Many have resorted to using gas cylinders to cook at their own convenience instead of the government’s. This is where Rocket Choolha comes in: a product by Mesol Solar aiming to provide a safe and eco-friendly way to keep the burners on.

Based on the concept of a biomass stove, the choolha utilises wood pellets created in-house by recycling wood waste. All moisture is extracted from the waste before it is turned into lightweight pellets. These pellets serve as the main fuel for the choolha, providing users with a solution costing almost half of what they spend on LPG — which is susceptible to price fluctuations during times of high demand.

All one has to do is top up the steel cylinder inside the choolha with wood pellets, add a few drops of kerosene (it can work if you omit oil as well), and light the pellets on fire. The design comes with an attached regulator to control the intensity of the flame; all you need to do is charge the choolha with your phone charger or a battery pack — which could further reduce costs if it is solar powered. The interior is lined with glass fibre, a heat-resistant material also used in protective gear for firefighters, which, according to Mesol Solar, makes the appliance safe to use at home.

For now, the Rocket choolha is far from a replacement for the gas line that gives out just as one begins to think of stepping into the kitchen. But it does something clever: it takes what would have been wood waste swept into a corner and turns it into a means for making dinner. Nothing is felled for the fire; the wood has simply been given a second shift.

Extracting water through the air

With a burgeoning population, Pakistan faces growing pressure on its resources, especially clean drinking water. But what if that could be addressed by something that is available in abundance, like the air? A Nippon Energy product, SkySip is a water-dispenser look-alike entirely powered by solar, making it an end-to-end environmentally friendly product.

All it requires is a solar panel and an inverter to convert DC power from the solar panels to AC. The unit then uses clean solar power to draw ambient air, which is cooled to condense moisture into water droplets. The collected water then passes through a series of filters to purify it and make it safe to drink.

The range is what keeps SkySip from being a novelty. Although the units haven’t been rolled out in Pakistan yet, the smallest is rated to produce 20 litres a day, enough for a small household or shop. The bigger models climb from 50 litres to 1,000 litres a day, which makes the range suitable for everything from homes and offices to restaurants and industries. Power demand climbs with output, from 250 to 350 watts for the smallest unit to 4.5 to 6 kilowatts for the largest.

It won’t replace the pipeline or the tanker. But for clinics, schools and far-flung communities where water is scarce, unsafe or sold at a premium, a machine that turns sunlight and air into a glass of drinking water is a lifeline of a different kind.

None of these products are ready to replace what we rely on. However, other than powering households, they show the different ways in which Pakistan can innovate to harness a power it possesses in abundance.