Proposed model would run industrial estates in Rahim Yar Khan, Vehari and Quaid-e-Azam Business Park on solar and storage for half the day, as factories battle high tariffs and an unreliable grid
LAHORE: Punjab is preparing pilot projects that would pair solar power with battery energy storage systems (BESS) at three industrial estates, under a model in which factories would draw electricity off-grid for 12 hours a day and from the national grid for the other 12.
Provincial Energy Minister Malik Faisal Ayub Khokhar reviewed the proposals on Thursday and directed officials to work with the Punjab Industrial Estates Development and Management Company (PIEDMC) to find land for solar installations at the three sites: Rahim Yar Khan, Vehari and the Quaid-e-Azam Business Park near Sheikhupura.
“Providing affordable, quality and reliable electricity to industries is among the government’s foremost priorities,” Khokhar said, adding that integrating battery storage with solar could stabilise supply, improve power quality and let industrial units benefit more efficiently from alternative energy.
How the model would work
Muhammad Badr-ul-Munir, chief executive of the provincial government’s Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power (Pvt) Ltd (QASPL), told the meeting the plan envisaged up to four hours of backup from battery storage. Solar generation by day, topped up by stored power after sunset, would cover roughly half of each estate’s daily needs, with the grid supplying the rest.
A technical team working with PIEDMC has prepared a detailed report on the storage systems and their possible uses at the three estates, officials said. The pilots are intended as a test: if they prove effective, the province will consider extending the model to other industrial areas.
Khokhar asked officials to draw up an implementation strategy focused on power quality, efficient use of energy resources and the specific needs of industry. Secretary Energy Muhammad Ajmal Bhatti attended the meeting.
No cost estimate, capacity figure, financing plan or timeline was announced, and it was not specified whether factories would pay a separate tariff for solar-and-storage power.
Why industry needs it
Power is among the biggest costs for Pakistani manufacturers. Industrial tariffs have fallen from Rs62.33 per unit in March 2024 to about Rs46 per unit after government cuts, but remain well above the roughly 9 US cents per unit that textile exporters say they need to compete with regional rivals. Industry also still pays a cross-subsidy of about Rs7 per unit to support other consumers, according to Nepra proceedings.
Reliability is the second problem. Lahore and its surrounding industrial districts, including Sheikhupura and Kasur, suffered nightly outages of six to eight hours this month after delays to LNG cargoes left some gas-fired plants idle. Voltage swings and unscheduled cuts damage machinery and disrupt shift work, which is why the briefing put so much weight on “power quality”. Consumers are also facing a Rs1.11 per unit fuel adjustment in October bills.
Many larger firms have already gone their own way, installing rooftop and captive solar. But solar alone helps only during daylight, and the evening demand spike as the sun sets has become one of the grid’s biggest stresses. Storage is meant to bridge that gap, though batteries remain expensive and their economics depend on cheap daytime solar and sufficient capacity to cover peak hours.
The three sites
The Quaid-e-Azam Business Park, about 40 kilometres from Lahore on the M2 motorway near Sheikhupura, is a special economic zone developed under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and one of the province’s flagship industrial estates. Chinese state firm PowerChina recently expressed interest in energy projects in Punjab’s special economic zones.
The Vehari and Rahim Yar Khan industrial estates serve south Punjab’s agro-based industries, including cotton ginning, textiles and sugar-related processing. Rahim Yar Khan lies close to the Cholistan desert, among the sunniest parts of the province, and Punjab already operates the large Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park in neighbouring Bahawalpur through QASPL.
A broader shift
The pilots fit a wider push to cut reliance on imported fuel. A Lahore forum last month urged a shift to renewable energy after the Gulf crisis exposed Pakistan’s vulnerability to LNG disruptions, with winter gas cargoes at risk. Khokhar himself has said the climate fight cannot be left to government alone.
Lahore’s own rooftop solar boom shows both the appetite and the friction: households and businesses have faced delays as LESCO ran short of net-metering meters. Industrial-scale storage could ease some of that strain by smoothing demand at estates rather than pushing it back to the grid at sunset.
Officials are now expected to identify land at each estate and finalise the technical design. The details still missing, including cost, capacity, tariff and timeline, will decide whether the pilots become a model for Punjab’s industrial estates or remain on paper.
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