Matiari-Lahore HVDC transmission line project achieves financial close

ISLAMABAD: Matiari-Lahore high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line project with an estimated cost of $1.65 has secured financing and will be fully operational in March 2021, the developer said on Wednesday.

This is the country’s first private sector transmission project under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and will transmit more than 4,000 megawatts of coal-based electricity from projects in Sindh to the Punjab in main grid.

To this effect, documents were signed and exchanged here by Shah Jahan Mirza, Managing Director, Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB) and Wang Bo, Chief Executive Officer of the Pak Matiari-Lahore Transmission Company (Pvt.) Ltd. (PMLTC).

Omar Ayub Khan, federal minister power division, Irfan Ali, secretary power division, and, Lijian Zhao, Chinese deputy chief of mission in Pakistan were also present on the occasion.

Briefing media after the signing ceremony, the power minister said the government was focusing on energy security and power generation from indigenous resources.

“Currently 60 percent electricity is being generated through oil and gas and we have planned the change the energy mix and to generate 30pc from renewable resources in 2030,” Ayub said.

He said the generation capacity in 2030 would be 55,000 MW and 18,000 MW would be generated through renewable resources.

Chinese diplomat said the sponsor company was well experienced and capable to complete this very important CPEC project that would create 6,000 jobs.

A statement said the project, which was scheduled to achieve Commercial Operations by March 2021, would be executed on Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) basis, and would be transferred to the National Transmission & Dispatch Company (NTDC) after a term of 25 years.

China Electric Power Equipment & Technology Co. Ltd, (CET), a subsidiary of State Grid of Corporation of China (SGCC), is the main sponsor of the project, which is responsible for execution of the project through formation of a special purpose company, i.e. Pak Matiari-Lahore Transmission Company (Pvt.) Ltd. (PMLTC).

The Project is designed to have bi-pole HVDC technology, having two converter stations, one each at the ends of Matiari (Sindh) and Lahore, three repeater stations, and two grounding electrode stations.

The PPIB had issued Letter of Support (LOS) for the Project to PMLTC on August 4, 2017 and National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) granted special purpose transmission license to PMLTC for the project on February 18, 2018.

It is worth mentioning that the project agreements have already been signed by the respective entities.

In addition to this HVDC project, the PPIB is currently facilitating implementation of power projects having cumulative capacity of 10,934 MW under CPEC, which include various hydel and coal based projects.