94 Percent of Pakistan's New Power Capacity This Year Came from Rooftop Solar — 2,633 MW Out of 2,800 MW

Pakistan is on track to add roughly 2,800 MW of new electricity generation capacity during financial year 2025-26 — and an extraordinary 2,633 MW of that, more than 94 percent, is being delivered by rooftop solar net metering rather than by conventional utility-scale projects. The figures, reported by the Power Division, will lift the country's total installed capacity to around 44,626 MW by the end of June 2026.

That ratio is unprecedented. In every previous fiscal year, distributed solar additions have been a footnote to the main story of new IPPs, hydropower extensions, or LNG-fired combined-cycle plants. This year, distributed solar is the main story — and conventional generation additions are the footnote.

What is driving the rooftop solar surge

Three pressures stacked on top of each other through FY 2025-26:

• Tariff escalation — base residential rates, fuel cost adjustments, and quarterly tariff adjustments together pushed bills past the threshold where a 5–10 kW rooftop system pays back in three to four years.
• Imported panel prices dropped further as Chinese manufacturing scaled, with landed costs in Karachi reaching multi-year lows.
• The pre-cutoff rush — with the regulator signalling the end of the old net metering regime, tens of thousands of households and SMEs accelerated installation to get grandfathered under the more generous settlement before the deadline.

Where the additions actually landed

The 2,633 MW figure represents connected and net-metered capacity, not all rooftop installations — meaning the real installed solar number on Pakistani roofs is even higher, with a significant share still operating off-grid or behind-the-meter without a DISCO settlement. By DISCO, the largest concentrations remain in LESCO and K-Electric service areas where commercial and industrial rooftops have dominated, followed by IESCO and FESCO.

Reading the number alongside the policy shift

The 2,633 MW figure and the simultaneous end of net metering are not contradictory — they are the same story. The Power Division is closing the original settlement window because it worked too well. Once the cross-subsidy pressure became unsustainable, the regulator had to either raise non-solar tariffs further, accept widening circular debt, or close the front door for new applicants. It chose the third option.

What This Means for Pakistani Consumers

For consumers who already have a net-metered system, this year was the validation: rooftop solar is now the dominant marginal generator in Pakistan. For consumers thinking about installing under the new net billing regime, the economics are different — the lesson from FY 2025-26 is that self-consumption beats export, and households whose load profile aligns with daytime generation will continue to benefit. For grid managers and DISCOs, the next two years will be about integrating rather than adding distributed generation — protective relays, anti-islanding compliance, and feeder-level voltage management are the new priorities.

Source: Engineering Post, June 2026 Issue.