This study assess the feasibility of photovoltaic based power plant: for this purpose best site for the location of the project is determined by comparing monthly average daily global solar radiation data of eight Pakistani cities and Quetta city is chosen for the 10 MW plant. RETScreen simulation of the power plant shows that about 23.206 GWh of electricity can be generated in a year if one axis tracking method is employed. At a total cost of $50 m, 50% debt ratio, 9% discount rate the proposed PV plant generates electricity at a rate of $0.157/kWh. The investigation shows that presently the PV based electricity is about 30.8% more expensive as compared to grid supplied electricity. Emission analysis demonstrated that the proposed PV power plant avoided carbon dioxide production by 17,938 tons/year. The analysis shows that presently the proposed PV power plant is not feasible if only economic factors are considered. Sensitivity analysis demonstrates that if total installed cost of the plant is about $35 m then the cost of power from photovoltaic plant will be equal to grid supplied electric power without any subsidy. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.