RLNG plant near Trimmu catches fire

ISLAMABAD: One of the gas turbines of 1,263 MW RLNG-based power plant near Trimmu Barrage, Jhang, caught fire in the wee hours of August 3.

The combined cycle power plant having an efficiency of 61.16 percent was the brainchild of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif when he was the Punjab chief minister. The project was launched at the cost of $707.7 million.

The Punjab government fully owns the project which was built based on 25 percent equity and 75 percent loans from commercial banks that included the National Bank of Pakistan, Bank of Punjab, United Bank Limited and Habib Bank Limited.

Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari confirmed the incident saying a probe was on and the government would not bear the loss as the whole project was fully insured.

Dr Naeem Rauf, Secretary Energy Punjab, told The News that experts from the company that installed the turbines and insurance company from Singapore were currently at the project site to know the exact root cause of the incident and assess the damage done to the gas turbine. “Accordingly, the insurance company will cover the loss done to the plant.” He said the project had three turbines of which two were based on gas and one on steam, each having the capacity to generate 421 MWs.

To a question, Naeem Rauf responded that the insurance company will also cover the opportunity loss — the loss that the project will experience.

Punjab Thermal Power Private Limited (PTPL) CEO Salman Zakria said the exhaust portion of the gas turbine was damaged. However, two turbines were functional and currently generating 300 MWs electricity. He said power generation from the project depended on the demand from the Central Power Purchase Agency (CPPA).