Nepra Energy Week 2020: Transmission sector role vital for sustainable electricity

ISLAMABAD: The transmission sector has a vital role in provision of safe, reliable and sustainable electricity. This was stated by Rahmatullah Baloch, Member Nepra, in his opening speech on the fourth day of Nepra Energy Week 2020 as he highlighted the issues and challenges faced by the transmission sector.

He stressed on resolving the issues including evacuation from renewable resources (wind and hydro, timely completion of the interconnection and frequent tripping) which affected the economy as a whole and end-consumers particularly.

The transmission session was attended by representatives of various power utilities such as NTDC, NUST, STDC, CPPA-G and AEDB. Moreover, power sector researchers and academia i.e. NUST, LUMS etc also shared their ideas and suggested the way forward for Pakistan to achieve the goal of sustainable development through effectiveness in the transmission sector.

The transmission session focused on the role of transmission companies, upcoming challenges i.e. issues of right of way, competition in shape of provincial grid companies, HVDC transmission line, etc.

The transmission session concluded with the agreement that for reliable and sustainable electricity provisions, the transmission sector needs to be revamped keeping in view the new challenges.

In addition to the transmission session, on the fourth day another session was held wherein international experts visiting all the way from the United Kingdom and Singapore discussed details about optimizing the procurement of imported coal through competitive pricing mechanism. This session was held keeping in view the share of imported coal power plants in the generation mix and its financial implications on the fuel pricing mechanism. During the session, experts provided the global comparison of international coal pricing, mechanism of price adjustment and its impact on electricity price.

The Innovation Session concluded with a vote of thanks from Chairman Nepra, Tauseef H. Farooqi. He also appreciated the efforts of the transmission day’s managing team for conducting such a fruitful session. Furthermore, he appreciated the innovative ideas and valuable recommendations shared by the experts.