Around 7,000MW added to power system in last five years

KARACHI: Pakistan’s electricity generation capacity surged to 29,573 megawatts till February from 22,812MW in 2012/13 as the government implemented strategies to cope up with the challenges of energy security, a ministry of energy’s document showed.

There has been a 30 percent growth in installed power generation capacity during the last five years due to diversification in energy mix.

Power generation increased 22 percent to 117,326 gigawatt hours (GWh) in 2016/17 as compared to 2012/13.

Analysts, however, estimated around 10,000 MW of addition in the installed generation capacity during the last five years.

The official document showed that a significant improvement has been seen in recovery of dues after decline in transmission and distribution losses. Average bill recovery remained above 90 percent in the last five years.

Pakistan Power Infrastructure Board and Alternative Energy Development Board facilitated the launch of as many as 39 power projects with an estimated investment of $9.9 billion between 2014 and 2018. Comparatively, the preceding government could attract alone $2.7 billion in power sector during 2009-2013, according to the document.

PML-N government decided to develop new wind and solar power projects, realising large potential of renewable resources. At least 18 wind power projects with 937.27MW of cumulative production capacity achieved commercial operation during the last five years, while another six solar power projects of 418MW were made operational during the period. Six sugar mills started generating 201.1MW from bagasse cogeneration.

The government had settled Rs480 billion of power sector’s circular debt when it came into power in 2013, which added 1,700MW in electricity to grid and considerably eased power outage in the country. The debt, however, reemerged and currently stands at Rs573 billion, undermining efforts made to improve power production and transmission, according to the ministry’s document.

The government unveiled Power Generation Policy 2015 to offer incentives to local as well as foreign investors, and simplified processing to encourage them to participate in the development of power projects.

The policy envisaged sufficient power generation capacity at lower cost and optimum exploitation of indigenous resources with mutual benefits for investors, government and public.

Share of hydropower in energy mix, however, fell during the last five years due mainly to low water availability. The government tried to offset this falling share through promotion of renewable energy sources, which, however, constitute only two percent of electricity generation.

The PML-N government set a policy effecting gradual shift to a decarburisation regime, focusing more on renewable energy sources in compliance with Paris climate agreement.

In 2015, PML-N government started import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as it is an economical and efficient fuel as compared to other petroleum products. At present, the LNG re-gasification of two floating storage re-gasification units stands at 1,200 million metric cubic feet/day.

Government supplied 401mmcfd of RLNG to various power plants, including Bhikki, Haveli Bahadur Shah, Balloki, Halmore, Orient, Rousch, Kot Addu Power, Saif and Sapphire during July-Feb FY2018, while the remaining was supplied to fertiliser plants, industrial and transport sector.

Over the last five years, the government has removed energy side bottlenecks, due to which the economy was stuck in a low growth trap.

PML-N government started developing a five-year national electricity plan that would provide a roadmap for future power generation projects, pricing issues and set high standards for power consumers.