Power generation up 5pc in July, cost down 22pc

KARACHI: Country's power generation increased by nearly 5 percent in July, the first year-on-year growth in 13 months, as higher output from hydel, coal and RLNG sources offset lower production from fuel oil, wind and gas, data showed on Tuesday.

The total cost of generating electricity also fell by 22.1 percent in July, compared to the same month last year, due to lower fuel prices and higher share of renewable sources in the energy mix.

The data showed that the country generated 14,839 GWh (19,945MW) of electricity in July 2023, up 4.9 percent from 14,151 GWh (19,020MW) in July 2022. The increase was mainly driven by a 37.7 percent rise in RLNG-based generation, a 21 percent rise in coal-based generation and an 11 percent rise in hydel-based generation.

On a monthly basis, power generation improved by 8.2 percent in July, compared to 13,715 GWh in June 2023. The improvement was attributed to a 33.5 percent increase in hydel output, a 14.7 percent increase in RLNG output and a 13.5 percent increase in nuclear output.

However, on a cumulative basis, power generation declined by 8.5 percent to 75,861 GWh in the first seven months of 2023, compared to 82,948 GWh in the same period last year.

The decline was due to lower generation from RFO (-74 percent), coal (-16.2 percent), wind (-16.4 percent) and gas (-11.3 percent). The total cost of generating electricity in July 2023 was Rs8.34 KWh, down from Rs10.71 KWh in July 2022, a decrease of 22.1 percent, the data showed.

The lower cost was due to lower fuel prices and higher share of renewable sources in the energy mix, according to Tahir Abbas, Head of Research at Arif Habib Limited (AHL). "The significant decline in cost of generation was due to decline in coal, RFO and RLNG-based cost of generation along with an 11 percent YoY, 5 percent YoY, 6 percent YoY and 6 percent YoY rise in hydel, nuclear, wind and solar based generation respectively," Abbas said.

In July 2023, hydel was the leading source of power generation, accounting for 37.2 percent of the generation mix. It was followed by RLNG with a share of 19.7 percent, coal with a share of 14.7 percent, nuclear with a share of 14.2 percent, gas with a share of 6 percent, wind with a share of 3.7 percent, solar with a share of 0.5 percent and bagasse with a share of 0.3 percent. In the first seven months of 2023, hydel had a share of 26 percent, RLNG had a share of 20.3 percent, coal had a share of 17.6 percent, nuclear had a share of 17.4 percent, gas had a share of 10.4 percent, wind had a share of 3.5 percent, RFO had a share of 2.8 percent and solar had a share of 0.9 percent.