NGC, Lesco blame each other for frequent power outages

LAHORE:The National Grid Company (NGC) of Pakistan (formerly NTDC), and Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) have blamed each other for recurring early-summer outages.

Forced power load management in the last couple of days has exacerbated consumer difficulties, resulting in frequent outages during hot weather conditions, exceeding 44 C. As hydropower generation and solar energy have risen, consumer wondered why is the transmission and distribution system are unable to meet the demand of early summer? Ministry of Energy also claimed that there is no shortfall in demand and supply of power.

The frustration of Lesco consumers despite increases in energy generation, highlights a complex interplay of factors within national power grid. While the spokesperson of Power Division, Ministry of Energy states that there is no power shortfall in terms of overall generation, the inability of department concerned to meet demand are rooted in the very "grid-related constraints" and systemic issues.

The 220kv network of NGC, formerly NTDC are said to be too fragile to transmit power in high-demand summer months, claimed an official of power distribution company. A Lesco official has attributed severe power outages to the overloaded, aging and fragile" 220kv network of the NGC.

The assertion from Lesco seems align with recurring issues and concerns regarding national power transmission infrastructure. It is a fact that despite significant investments in power generation, the transmission network, especially at the 500 kV and 220 kV levels, has struggled to keep pace with growing demand. This problem leads to overloaded infrastructure and technical losses, contributing to an unreliable power supply.

Specifically concerning Lesco areas, the 220kV network has been identified as a critical bottleneck at certain places. There have been instances where NTDC's 220kV grid stations have been overloaded, leading to tripping and subsequent load management by Lesco, said senior official of power utility.

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has also noted that the NTDC's transmission capacity is not capable of transferring all the generated electrical energy, with underutilised transformers and transmission lines on both 500kV and 220kV networks. On the other hand, s spokesman of NGC, formerly NTDC, insisted that 220kv system has overall been working satisfactorily. There were some bottlenecks but efforts were made to address these issues.

NGC has been undertaking upgrades and maintenance programmes for its transmission lines and grid stations. Various 220kV grid stations were upgraded with a higher capacity transformer. There have also been instances where NTC has installed new transformers at Lahore's 220kV grid stations to improve supply, he stressed. He alleged that Lesco transformers are not being upgraded in line with the high demand in certain areas.

However, despite these efforts, the problem of transmission constraints and system fragility, particularly during peak summer demand, continues to be a point of contention between Lesco and NGC. The lack of synergy and coordination between the two public sector energy companies resulted in absence of a coherent 220kv, 132kv power lines.

On the other hand, a senior official of Power Division, Federal Ministry of Energy made it clear that there is no power shortfall. We are producing electricity in excess of demand so there is absolutely no question of any imbalance in generation and dispatch, he said and adding outages in Lahore and surrounding districts is purely grid related constraints.

The contrasting statements highlight a critical and long-standing issue in national power sector, exposing a mismatch between generation capacity and transmission and distribution infrastructure.

The important issue of handing over 132kv lines to distribution companies has also been overlooked by the power managers, leading to unaddressed gaps in power conveyance system. This chronic policy failures have been one of the major reasons of unaddressed bottlenecks in national power supply network, particularly in Sindh rural for connecting wind power, said an official. He stressed the need to handover 132kv network to DISCOs for better management of load issues at micro level.