Roadmap for Rapid Solarization of Pakistan's Textile Clusters (Faisalabad & Multan)

Summary

This November 2025 ADS roadmap sets out a rapid-solarization strategy for Pakistan's Faisalabad and Multan textile clusters, modeling two scenarios, a high-renewable-fraction case (87% on-site solar, $2.43B capex) and a lower-renewable case (75% on-site solar, $1.43B capex), against both off-grid/captive and on-grid/centralized configurations. Using GIS mapping of specific mills' installed and potential solar PV capacity, and sensitivity modeling of how wheeling charges and CTBCM trading rates affect LCOE and payback periods, it proposes a phased wheeling-tariff schedule, CTBCM design options, and a set of KPIs and governance safeguards to scale solarization to 300-500 MW across the two clusters within three years.

Key Points

• 1Among sampled textile firms, "Gas+Solar+Grid" (16 firms) and "Grid only" (15 firms) are the most common current energy setups, while "Solar Only" is rare (2 firms).
• 2The study models two scenarios: Scenario A with 87% on-site solar (3,733 MW capacity, $2.43B capex) and Scenario B with 75% on-site solar (2,175 MW capacity, $1.43B capex).
• 3Wheeling charges above PKR 12-15/kWh make many mid-size distributed solar projects uneconomic, creating a "wheeling paradox" between industry's demanded rate (PKR 3-8/kWh) and the government's proposed rate (PKR 25-27/kWh).
• 4The report recommends a phased wheeling schedule starting at PKR 5-8/kWh for a 0-12 month pilot, rising to PKR 9-12/kWh in months 12-36, and stabilizing at PKR 12-15/kWh by months 36-60.
• 5GIS mapping of Faisalabad mills alone recorded 125.79 MW of installed/mapped solar PV, and the roadmap sets a target of +300-500 MW of installed PV across the Faisalabad/Multan clusters combined within three years.