Power generation rises 5% in March

KARACHI: The country’s power generation rose by 5.0 per cent in March of the current financial year, mainly due to a significant increase in electricity produced from local coal.

Power generation reached 8,409 GWh in March, compared to 8,023 GWh in the same month last year. On a month-on-month basis, generation increased by 21 per cent from 6,945 GWh recorded in February. However, during the first nine months of the current fiscal year, overall power generation declined by 2.0 per cent to 90,147 GWh, compared to 92,340 GWh in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

In March, electricity generation from local coal recorded a sharp increase of 62 per cent year-on-year (YoY), while generation from wind rose by 23 per cent. Power generated from wind and solar also increased by 12 per cent and 9.0 per cent respectively during the month.

Conversely, hydel power generation dropped steeply by 41 per cent due to reduced water inflows in reservoirs, caused by below-average rainfall. Over the nine-month period, generation from imported coal increased by 46 per cent, while solar power generation rose by 26 per cent.

The cost of electricity generation in March climbed by 14 per cent to Rs9.46 per unit, compared to Rs8.31 per unit in the same month last year. The rise in generation cost was mainly attributed to the increased use of furnace oil and RLNG-based power production. On a monthly basis, the cost surged by 25 per cent compared to February.

Despite the March spike, the average power generation cost for the first nine months of the fiscal year edged down by 1.0 per cent to Rs8.65 per unit, from Rs8.75 per unit in the same period of the previous year.

In terms of contribution by source, hydel remained the leading contributor in March, accounting for 27.6 per cent of total generation, followed by nuclear at 25.8 per cent and RLNG at 20.7 per cent.

Over the nine-month period, hydel contributed 30.4 per cent of total electricity generation, while nuclear and RLNG accounted for 19.1 per cent and 17.4 per cent respectively. Local coal contributed 12.4 per cent to total generation during the same period.