Electricity transmission upgrade gains momentum ahead of 2018 elections

LAHORE: Work on crucial power transmission lines and system up-gradation gathers steam ahead of 2018 general election as the Pakistan Muslim Leagues (N) government is eyeing to fulfill its commitment of ending outages from the country.

“With a view to reinforcing north-south connectivity and improving system capacity, work on various projects is being carried out on fast pace,” said an official of National Transmission and Dispatch Company Ltd (NTDCL). 

“The maximum generation of 17,430 megawatt recorded on June 19, 2016 was evacuated through NTDC network.” However, it is estimated that this load would be increased by additional 10,000MW by 2018 following completion of several power generation plants.

In order to connect these power generation clusters to load centers, one of the a major initiatives has been transmission line project with the PC-1 cost of Rs12.979 billion, which will be completed in two phases. 

In phase-I, 45 KM long 500kV double circuit transmission line will be constructed from Port Qasim Coal fired Power Plant to HUB-Jamshoro transmission line circuit-I. Whereas in phase-II, 135km long transmission line will be constructed from interconnection Hub-Jamshoro to Matiari.

Both the phases are likely to be completed in March 2017 and Sept 2017 respectively, as part of government’s efforts to mitigate load shedding from the country. Hence, 1320MW power by coal fired power plants will be added to the national grid.

In this connection, NTDC and Habib Bank Ltd (HBL) signed a term sheet for financing of Rs10.4 billion for construction of 500kV double circuit transmission line from Port Qasim to Matiari for evacuation of 1,320MW power from under construction coal fired power plant.

Separately, construction work on various grid stations and transmission lines is being carried out on fast track and will be completed during the current fiscal year of 2016-17. 

The grid stations include 500kV Rahim Yar Khan, 500kV Lahore New, 500kV Faisalabad West, 220kV Gujrat , 220kV GIS Ghazi Road Lahore, 220kV Dera Murad Jamali, 220kV Chishtian, 220kV Lal Suhanra at Bahwalpur, 220kV Nowshera, 20kV Lalian New, 220kV D.I.Khan, 220kV Chakdara, 220kV Mansehra, 220kV Jhimpir and 220kV Gharo Grid Station. 

Whereas extension and augmentation work on 500kV Jamshoro and 220kV Rewat substation will also be completed by 2016.

Newly constructed 500kV Shikarpur grid station has resolved the issue of constraints of power evacuation from the power houses feeding 500kV Guddu and Shikarpur, whereas the workload of 500kV Guddu grid station has also been reduced to 36 percent. Engro Power, Fauji Power, Uch-I & II, Liberty Power, Habibullah Coastal power Plant are on full load.

Power from Uch Power plant-II is being evacuated through two alternate circuits. However, construction work of 220kV transmission line from Uch to Sibbi is being completed on war footing and will be commissioned in Dec 2016.

Construction of 220kV Ghazi Grid Station and 500kV Lahore South Grid Station is on the fast pace which are likely to be commissioned by June 2017 and March 2017, respectively and the problems of LESCO related issues will be resolved.

Presently, there are 14 grid stations of 500kV (including Shikarpur grid station energised this year) with capacity 18,750MVA and 37 grid stations of 220kV with capacity of 23,071 MVA. In last three years (2013-16) NTDC has constructed 10 grid stations of 220kV and two gird stations of 500kV and enhanced capacity of 5,340MVA and 3,000MVA, respectively. Whereas 36 kilometer of 500 transmission line and 630 kilometer of 220kV transmission has been added into the transmission network.

A part from above mentioned projects, transmission lines are being constructed for evacuation of power from power houses which include power dispersal from Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Power Plant, 220kV double circuit transmission line from Uch-II to Sibbi, 3rd circuit 500kV transmission line from Jamshoro to Rahim Yar Khan , 500kV Guddu-Muzaffargarh transmission line, 500kV Thar–Matiari transmission line, 500kV Bin Qasim-Matiari transmission line, 500 kV transmission lines for evacuation of power from R-LNG based Power Plants located at Bhiki, Balloki and Haveli Bahadar Shah.