Sugar millers to add 1,055MW by 2020

KARACHI: Bagasse-based power plants of 30 sugar millers will achieve commercial operations by 2020, contributing 1,055MW to the grid at an investment of $1.05 billion, as the regulator estimates $0.996 million/MW investment for bagasse-based generation.

The electric power regulator has awarded another generation license to Ranipur Energy, a subsidiary of Ranipur Sugar Mills, for bagasse-based generation as the government envisages share of renewables in the mix to be 10 percent by 2024-25.

An official said government had been pursuing broad objectives for power generation development, including, renewable energy, moving to environmental friendly fuels and reduced dependence on imported fuels.

“The addition of different new generation technologies will change the power mix of the sector from furnace oil-based to coal, RLNG and renewables as no major addition has been planned on furnace oil.”

During FY2016-17, there was an increase of about 15MW in the installed generation capacity of bagasse-based power plants for a total of about 161MW in the system.

According to the official statistics, as many as 22 sugar millers provided surplus power to distribution companies through bilateral contracts.

National Electricity Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) considers bagasse an indigenous fuel which should be preferred for energy security.

The authority, through upfront tariff determination has allowed a levelised tariff of Rs7.9741/kWh for the future bagasse-based projects.

The tariff is competitive for cheap power generation, and utilisation of bagasse and other bio-mass products that otherwise cause air and soil pollution if burnt.