PML-N follows PPP example, looks for mobile and rental power plants:
ISLAMABAD: Nervously finding itself in the shoes of last PPP government, the PML-N government is considering hiring mobile power plants (MPPs) besides reviving some rental power plants (RPPs) it condemned almost six years ago.
On top of that, the government is also earnestly striving to
utilise the idle capacity of some of the independent power plants
(IPPs) closed down due to various disputes and instruct the industrial
sector to make available their captive power plants (CPPs).
The
plans will help the government to bridge gap between power demand and
supply in the summer as it tries to build popular support in the run-up to general election next year.
Govt also considers other options to make summer bearable as election nears
MPPs are small-to-medium, trailer-mounted compact plants
having production capacity of 20 to 50 megawatts. They are readily
available with a selective few suppliers, particularly US-based General
Electric, and can be deployed within 15 minutes after reaching the site.
Including shipping time, the plants get up and running in less than six
weeks.
The decision to go for “emergency steps” was taken at a
recent high-level meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy to tap in
additional generation capacity from wherever possible. The decision came
after the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif bitterly questioned
“desk reports” of the Ministry of Water and Power and its subordinate
agencies such as National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) and
distribution companies regarding energy gaps and power outage period.
As
the chief minister proposed all the above modes of power generation,
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif recalled that perhaps he had been misled by
the power ministry over the past couple of years with unrealistic
forecasts and ordered to evaluate proposals on MPPs, RPPs, CPPs and
IPPs.
The prime minister ordered the power ministry to
“evaluate proposal regarding induction of mobile power generating units
on a short-term basis for meeting power shortfall in summer of 2017 and
immediately study options on the utilisation of idle capacity of IPPs as
well as captive power plants to bridge the demand and supply gap.” He
was also unhappy with the progress on transmission line projects,
according to minutes of the meeting.
The power ministry
briefed the meeting on the load management position and reported that
loadshedding for six hours in urban areas, eight to 12 hours in rural
areas, four hours in mixed industrial areas and no loadshedding for
independent industrial load areas was being carried out by all
distribution companies, except Tribal Electric Supply Company which
observes 18 hours of loadshedding in urban and rural areas.
The
Punjab chief minister contested these figures of loadshedding. “In
urban areas of Punjab, 10 to 12 hours of loadshedding was actually being
done,” he informed the meeting.
The prime minister
observed that “it was clearly committed by the ministry that three hours
of loadshedding for urban areas and four hours of loadshedding in rural
areas would be observed in the country during summer of 2017.”
However,
this plan was not being followed at all, he declared. “In fact, the
duration of loadshedding being reported is more than double the approved
plan. No cogent reasons are being forwarded by the ministry for this
lapse”.
The prime minister also observed that rise in
temperature by two to three degrees Celsius should not have resulted in
such a big increase in load-shedding. “Moreover, less availability of
water during these months was never highlighted in earlier
presentations.”
The Punjab chief minister further stated
that there was a huge gap between demand and supply of power. The
ongoing power projects in the country would take some time for their
commercial operation date. Therefore, there was a dire need to take
emergency steps in this regard.
The minister proposed all
available options should be utilised, such as setting up MPPs,
restoring idle power projects and encouraging the industrial sector to
operationalise their available captive power capacity to mitigate power
shortages in the country.
He said the option of MPPs
should be explored only for a year as the current shortfall in power
generation would considerably be reduced by the end this year after the
completion of ongoing power projects.
The prime minister
directed the Ministry of Water and Power to explore the option of MPPs
on a short-term basis and utilise captive power plants. The Punjab chief
minister suggested that generating power through solar system should
also be examined as such projects can be made operational in six to
eight months.
Fawad Hassan Fawad, secretary to the prime
minister, complained that the Chinese authorities have raised their
concern in the meeting of joint coordination committee (JCC) over the
non-issuance of letter of intent by the Pakistani side to set up a 300MW
power plant in Gwadar. It was agreed in the JCC meeting the requisite
letter would be issued by the Private Power and Infrastructure Board
after legal formalities were fulfilled. However, it has not yet been
issued.
He added that power plant and transmission line
for evacuating electricity from Gwadar plant should have been completed
by the end of December 2019 to reap its economic benefits. However,
conditional letter by the NTDC has indicated December 2020 as the date
of commercial operation for the transmission line.
The
NTDC’s managing director has said that the 700-kilometre long
transmission line was required to be built in the areas of difficult
terrain where security issues also exist. Moreover, at least four years
were required to build the line.
Concurring with Mr
Fawad, the prime minister said that both power plant and transmission
lines should have been completed simultaneously to generate economic
activity in the backward areas of Balochistan. He directed the NTDC
chief to complete the transmission lines within the shortest possible
time.
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