K-Electric to begin construction of 900MW RLNG-based power plant in Dec

KARACHI: The K-Electric (KE) on Monday announced it is all set to start the construction of 900 megawatt (MW) RLNG-based Bin Qasim Power Station (BQPS)-III in December.

The $650 million project has received all required approvals and is part of K-Electric’s planned initiatives resulting in investments of around $3 billion across the power value chain over the next few years, the power utility said in a statement.

The project was conceived in 2016 and after the completion of feasibility studies it was approved and publicly announced in 2017. Despite the fact the project timeline was affected due to a delay in the finalisation of K-Electric’s multi-year tariff, the power utility said it was determined to execute the project on a fast-track, and according to the project contracts signed last month, the plant was expected to start generating electricity by summer of 2021.

Moonis Alvi, CEO K-Electric said the project is a major private sector investment in the country's power sector.

“We have also re-negotiated the terms of the contract and the first unit of 450MW will be commissioned in only 19 months instead of 24 months, thus greatly reducing the time in which Karachi will start reaping the benefits.” Alvi said in a statement.

He said the project would be a highly efficient combined cycle plant with an efficiency of around 60 percent. “In addition to bridging the demand for electricity, this plant will also enable us to gradually phase out some units of the aging and less efficient BQPS I plant, which have been in service for more than 25 years.”

the K-Electric chief said after completion, the BQPS-III would result in lower import costs for the government, affordable power for consumers and a much smaller carbon footprint as compared to furnace oil power plants.

The statement said K-Electric was also actively pursuing the 700MW coal-fired plant being built in collaboration with China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC).

The power utility said it had also been actively engaged with the relevant stakeholders for additional off-take from the national grid; however after a detailed study it was intimated to both K-Electric and energy ministry that national grid could not provide the requested MWs from the existing interconnection infrastructure, on account of overloading and system stability concerns.

K-Electric said it was already in negotiations with relevant stakeholders for the import

of 500MW from the under-construction nuclear power plants KANUPP II & III and if

this additional 500MW was made available to the power utility and it was also ready to invest in interconnections to evacuate that power to replace the remaining inefficient power plants.

However, it added that the construction of interconnection facilities would take at least two and a half years following the receipt of required approvals which would also take their due time.

"So given the robust due diligence, current technical limitations to off-take additional power from the national grid, demand supply gap, transmission situation, efficiency and all related factors -the upcoming 900MW RLNG power plant was very crucial for Karachi and K-Electric was committed to commission the project as soon as possible," the power utility added.