ECC decision
ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet has allowed the state-owned power purchasing company to buy electricity from the public sector re-gasified liquefied natural gas-based projects, a document showed on Tuesday.
The document said the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) has been authorised to develop and execute power purchase agreements with the three RLNG-based power projects of 3,600-megawatt in the public sector in accordance with the guidelines set out in the Power Policy 2015.
It said the power houses – each having an approximate production capacity of 1,200MW – will be located in the Punjab: Bhikki (near Sheikhupura), Balloki (Kasur) and Haveli Bahadur Shah (a town in Jhang).
The Ministry of Water and Power, in a meeting on Monday, told the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) that the government is making all-out efforts to reduce the electricity demand-supply gap in the country, by adopting multi-pronged strategy. The approval of ECC of the cabinet was solicited to authorise CPPA to develop and execute the power purchase agreement (PPA) for the three RLNG-based power projects in the public sector and to allow the agency to adopt the draft PPA.
The government has initiated clean, affordable and reliable energy program, which is an integrated approach towards the sustainable energy for Pakistan through the import of R-LNG for setting up of power plants. The ministry said 600 million metric cubic feet/day of RLNG will be available for the power generation projects in 2017-18. The ministries water and power and petroleum and natural resources are in close coordination to finalise the modalities of the import.
The Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has already performed the groundbreaking ceremonies of all the three projects.
The petroleum ministry told the ECC meeting that draft agreements amongst the Pakistan State Oil, Engro Terminal, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company, pertaining to the import, re-gasification and distribution of LNG have been finalised after detailed deliberation on transmission of R-LNG to the project sites.
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has also notified an upfront tariff for LNG-based projects.
Quaid-e-Azam Thermal power plant in Bhikki has already filed an intervention with the Nepra for the revised determination of its tariff. The authority has yet to notify the new tariffs. The government-owned Quaid-e-Azam Thermal Power Company has prepared the PPA after provisional discussions with the power ministry and the CPPA.
The SNGPL and the CPPA have initialed the reimbursement and gas supply agreements.
The draft of the proposed PPA contains a number of concepts, which are not covered under the existing PPAs regime and are peculiar to the PPAs of RLNG-based power plants.