That is the nature of fossil-fuel dependence in South Asia, and it is not new. In Sri Lanka, the Ceylon Electricity Board still operates on substantial oil-burning and coal-fired capacity, and fossil fuels remain among the largest categories of merchandise imports. For South Asia, electrifying road transport is one of the largest single levers to reduce exposure to external shocks. Sri Lanka currently has no programme to systematically replace diesel irrigation pumps with solar systems at scale. Omais Abdur Rehman is a senior associate for renewable energy technologies at Renewables First, an energy and environment think-tank in Pakistan.