Pakistan’s solar electricity generation reached 36.3 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2025, overtaking nuclear power for the first time even as nuclear output increased 3.7% to a record 22.5 TWh, according to the World Nuclear Industry Status Report (WNISR) 2026.
The report said the solar generation figure was likely to be significantly underestimated because substantial privately installed capacity remains unregistered and does not pass through the public grid.
Pakistan imported more than 58 gigawatts (GW) of solar panels from China between the beginning of 2017 and mid-2026. Around 40GW, or 69% of the total, arrived between 2024 and mid-2026.
The surge made Pakistan the second-largest single-country import market for Chinese solar panels behind the Netherlands, which serves as a European distribution hub. Pakistan was China’s largest solar panel customer in 2025.
The report said Pakistan installed about twice as much solar capacity in five years as France did in a decade. By summer 2025, solar had become the country’s single largest source of electricity.
The rapid spread of private solar systems has also helped explain declining electricity consumption from the public grid despite economic growth, as households and businesses increasingly generate power for their own use.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s nuclear electricity generation increased from 21.7 TWh in 2024 to an all-time high of 22.5 TWh in 2025
The country operates six nuclear reactors with a combined capacity of 3,262 megawatts (MW), all built by the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). These comprise Kanupp-2 and Kanupp-3 outside Karachi and four reactors at the Chashma Nuclear Power Generating Station.
The four operating Chashma reactors have a combined capacity of 1,230MW, while another 1,000MW Hualong One reactor, C-5, is under construction and expected to be completed by 2030.
Construction formally began with the first concrete pour on December 30, 2024, more than seven years after the project agreement in 2017. The WNISR said C-5 is China’s only ongoing nuclear new-build project abroad.
Citing the Pakistan Economic Survey 2025-26, the report said debt repayments account for a notable share of nuclear generation costs, particularly for K-2 and K-3, commissioned in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Their 12-year debt repayment period represents 20% of their estimated 60-year economic life.
