Sindh challenges NTDC ‘primacy’ in power procurement

KARACHI: Sindh government has slammed a proposal to delegate the centre-backed transmission and dispatch firm with all the power to procure electricity in a multiyear plan of gradually shifting power generation to renewables as the clean energy-rich province is setting up its own company in the field, The News learnt on Tuesday.

Sindh Minister for Energy Imtiaz Shaikh expressed concern over the indicative generation capacity expansion plan (IGCEP) and “its unilateral primacy in all power procurement decisions”.

“Shockingly, no such draft of IGCEP has been shared with the government of Sindh,” Shaikh said in a letter to Federal Minister for Energy (Power Division) Omar Ayub.

The provincial minister said the plan was formulated by the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) to “seek absolute primacy of power procurement from the year 2018-2040”.

Currently, the plan is pending before the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) for approval.

The expansion plan envisaged transformation of power generation sector from thermal production to renewables and nuclear power. Installed capacity of electricity has reached 34,282 megawatts, the economic survey for FY2019 said. Share of oil in energy mix stood at 31.2 percent, while that of gas was recorded at 34.6 percent.

Clean energy sources, including hydro, have little shares in the energy mix. Wind corridor in Sindh is estimated to hold potential of generating 50,000 megawatts of electricity, which would be a substantial contribution to an estimated peak demand of 80,000 megawatts by 2040.

The provincial government sought licence for transmission and distribution of electricity from Nepra to evacuate power from a number of emerging electricity projects in the province.

The provincial minister said a section (14A) of Nepra Act 1997 stipulates that the Council of Common Interest approves any national electricity policy and plan, “which shall be prepared and prescribed by the federal government in consultation with the provinces”.

“Therefore, so called IGCEP shall be part of and in pursuance of national electricity policy and plan,” the minister said. “The present, so called IGCEP is illegal as no consultation has been made with the government of Sindh.”

Shaikh requested the federal government to share the indicative generation capacity expansion plan prepared by NTDC with the government of Sindh and “advise Nepra to halt all further processing and action on so called IGCEP till the comments of government Sindh, if any, are due incorporate in it”.