CCoE approves Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan

ISLAMABAD: The Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCOE) on Thursday approved the Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan -- IGCEP 2021-30, an indicative annual plan prepared by the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) as per National Electricity Policy (NEP) approved by the Council of Common Interest (CCI).

The meeting presided over by Asad Umar, minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives approved the plan presented by the power division after detailed consultations with all the provincial governments.

All the federal and provincial projects already under implementation will be completed as per the commitments. "There was consensus on the principle of new generation capacity addition only based on the least-cost basis." a statement said.

"Such planning will target optimum future capacity addition at the most affordable cost, ensuring the cheapest electricity for consumers."

The IGCEP envisions the commissioning of a portfolio of new generation projects including many hydropower projects, Thar coal-based projects, K-3 nuclear power plant, and over 4,000MW of solar and wind-based renewable energy projects. Under the approved IGCEP the generation mix of 2022 which is dominated by fossil fuel will shift to clean energy (hydel, Solar, Wind, Nuclear) by the year 2030. Moreover, for the same period, the indigenous fuel-based generation against the imported fuel-based generation is going to improve from 69 percent to 87 percent of the total fuel-based generation.

Around 88 percent of the total capacity increased from 2022 to 2030 which will come from indigenous fuel and the balanced is only for those projects which were committed prior to this government came into power. Fossil fuel has more than 50 percent share of generation capacity right now, however, in the 2022-2030 period the share of fossil will be only 25 percent. So, therefore, all the new project commitments are based on indigenous fuel.

The CCoE was also briefed by the Federal Investigating Agency (FIA) on the progress of the investigation of the shortage of petroleum products in the country in June 2020. The CCoE expressed its concerns over the delay in report finalization.

The FIA briefed the Committee on the progress made so far and ensured that substantial progress on findings will be shared with CCoE by end of September.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Finance, Minister for Interior, Minister for Energy, Minister for Maritime Affairs, Minister for Railways, Minister for S& T, Finance Minister KP, SAPM on Power, Petroleum & Revenue. Representatives of regulatory authorities and senior officials of Ministries/Divisions also participated in the meeting.