Abstract:
Despite the fact that fossil fuels are found in relatively small number of places, they are
consumed worldwide. In contrast renewable energy is available all over the world but
it is utilized only by small a segment of world’s population. However, due to an
increased awareness of environmental impact of fossil fuels and advancement in
renewable energy technology, nowadays there is a rise in the use of renewable energy
as an alternate source of energy. In Pakistan especially, during the last decade, use of
solar energy has been advocated and widely adopted at domestic level.
This study has been undertaken to determine if it would be cost beneficial over a 25
year period to install solar energy for residential, commercial and agricultural sector. A
cost benefit analysis was performed to determine if the investment would be financially
worthwhile.
The results reveal that solar energy is viable only in the agricultural sector of Pakistan
under the present circumstances. In residential and commercial sectors of Pakistan the
payback period of solar powered system might turn to be very long. Due to unstable
national grid.
Payback period for residential sector is 11.79 years, for commercial sector 7.5 years
and for solar water pumping is only 2.47 years, which is lowest among other sectors.
