Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/seta An analytical study to predict the future of Pakistan’s energy sustainability versus rest of South Asia Rizwan Rasheed a,b, ⁎ ,1 , Asfra Rizwan a , Hajra Javed a , Abdullah Yasar a , Amtul Bari Tabinda a , Sumera Gull Bhatti a , Yuehong Su b a Sustainable Development Study Centre, Government College University Lahore, Pakistan b Department of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Nottingham, UK ARTICLEINFO Keywords: Renewables Sustainable energy Energy security Energy deficit Development ABSTRACT Relativesustainabilityoflarge-scalerenewableenergytechnologiesinSouthAsiahasbeenassessedwithspecial emphasis to Pakistan owing to the prevalent energy crises. South Asian countries are blessed with renewable energy resources that can effectively substitute the conventional resources. Pakistan is greatly dependent on fossils-based energy systems, spending 14.5 billion USD on fossil fuels’ import that is about 34% of its gross domestic product. It has been analysed that Pakistan is naturally blessed with annual hydropower potential of 0.06TW,highestafterIndiai.e.0.15TWandNepali.e.0.083TWinSouthAsia.Pakistanhasthehighestaverage solar insolation potential of 2.5 kWh/m 2 /day in the South Asia and can generate about 2.9 TW solar energy annually.Moreover,averagewindspeedof7–9ms -1 canyield0.35TW/yearofwindenergy.About0.30tonsof biomass waste is being generated in the country annually, having a bioenergy potential of 166.72 TWh/year. Indiahasthehighestannualbioenergypotentialof2434.4TWhfollowedbyBangladeshi.e.373.6TWhinSouth Asia.Theconferredcross-countrycomparisonwillprovideafactualroadmaptothedecision-makerssotodevise more focused approaches for addressing challenges associated with energy crisis in developing countries. Introduction Since the creation of humankind on this planet, one of its key re- quirementshavebeenenergy.Energyisregardedasasignificantfactor driving sustainable development as it determines the economic, en- vironmental and social development of a country [1] Energy require- ments have increased drastically owing to the increasing population and so has per capita consumption primarily because of the moder- nization of human race [2,3]. Per capita consumption of energy and modernizationbothaffecteachother’sstimulation.Increaseinonelead to an increase in the other [4]. Fig. 1 provides a comparative analysis between the year 2016 and 2019 regarding the per capita electricity consumptionofsomecountriesintheworld.Differentsectorsofsociety are using energy in significant amounts. Energy consumption per capita is directly proportional to a country’s economic growth. Countries like China, USA, and France which have rapid economic growth also have the highest per capita energy consumption [4-6]. Electricity is the most commonly used form of energy being used nowadays to promote in- dustrial progress. The conventional system of electric power is a net- work that consists of power generation, its transmission, distribution along with its utilization [7]. Highlightingtheresourceofelectricityproductionisveryimportant since today’s modern society is heavily dependent on electrical energy to fulfil its requirements. As of 2016, the annual global power genera- tion capacity is 24,770 TWh [8]. Fig. 2 depicts the individual con- tribution by each resource used to generate electricity worldwide, also https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2020.100707 Received 12 September 2019; Received in revised form 28 February 2020; Accepted 7 April 2020 Abbreviations: AEDB, Alternative Energy Development Board; CEA, Central Electricity Authority; CO, Carbon monoxide; CO 2 , Carbon dioxide; CSP, Concentrated Solar Power; FFC, Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited; GB, Gilgit Baltistan; GDP, Gross Domestic Product; GHG, Greenhouse Gas; IAP, Indoor Air Pollution; IESCO, Islamabad Electric Supply Company; KP, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; LoI, Letter of Intent; MT, Metric Ton; NEA, Nepal Electricity Authority; NEPRA, National Electric PowerRegulatoryAuthority;NGOs,Non-GovernmentalOrganizations;NO x ,OxidesofNitrogen;NPPP,NationalPowerPolicyofPakistan;NREL,NationalRenewable Energy Laboratory; PCRET, Pakistan Council Renewable Energy Technologies; QASP, Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power (Pvt.) Ltd.; R&D, Research and Development; RE, Renewable Energy; SHS, Solar Heating Systems; SO x , Oxides of Sulfur; USAID, United States Agency for International Development; WAPDA, Water and Power Development Authority; WHO, World Health Organization ⁎ Corresponding author at: Sustainable Development Study Centre, Government College University, Katchary Road, Lower Mall, Lahore 54000, Pakistan. E-mail addresses: riz_mian@hotmail.com, rizwanrasheed@gcu.edu.pk (R. Rasheed). 1 ORCID: 0000-0002-5441-7376. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 39 (2020) 100707 2213-1388/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T