Business Desk 
Apr 15, 2025
Pakistan has become one of the world's biggest solar importers, a remarkable feat achieved in the absence of any environment-friendly laws, global investments, or a sustainable energy revolution initiated by the government.
Despite the persisting economic challenges and longstanding poverty, Pakistan imported 17 gigawatts of solar panels last year, double of what it bought the previous year, The Independent noted, citing Ember’s Global Electricity Review 2025.
The whopping figure has placed Pakistan among the global leading solar markets.
It emerged that the biggest chunk of demand stemmed from rooftop solar installations by households, small businesses, and commercial users to get rid of the continuously rising electricity rates, coupled with tariffs, and embrace more affordable and reliable power.
The reports underlined that rooftop solar is increasingly becoming a “means of accessing lower-cost power.” Muhammad Mustafa Amjad, Programme Director at Renewables First, said the skyrocketing rise in solar installation should be seen as a “survival response” by users who are “increasingly being priced out of the grid due to inefficient planning and unreliable supply.”
“It marks a structural shift,” Amjad added, “in how energy is perceived in Pakistan,” emphasising that “Rooftop solar is fast becoming the preferred energy provider. And the role of the grid has to massively adapt in order to remain relevant.”
What sets Pakistan's massive solar adoption is that it took place without a national programme or utility-scale rollout.
