Final decisions on energy conservation tomorrow

[ajpirzada]

By Khalid Mustafa

ISLAMABAD: The national spirit prevailed on the second day of the energy conference as all stakeholders, despite a heated debate, agreed to equally share the burden of the power crisis.

The industrial sector volunteered to forego its share of gas depending upon the timings of the one-day holiday, which will be staggered . Similarly, the CNG dealers also agreed to go for one weekly holiday provided it is countrywide and on the same day.

The ministry of petroleum and natural resources informed the meeting that 350-400 mmcf gas could be saved for power generation, but a final decision would be made after the recommendations of the sub technical committee on the issue.

The ministry official said if one day holiday is introduced in the industrial sector and if CNG stations are also closed for one day in a week, then 235 mmcf gas per day will be saved for power generation which will enhance electricity generation by 940 MW and if the sub committee on gas diversion issue manages to save 350 mmcfd gas per day, then the system would have 1,400 MW of additional electricity.

The official said if two weekly holidays are observed then the country will save about 800 MW of electricity. With early closure of markets and wedding halls, the system will save over 500 MW per day. He said consensus is emerging on the issue of early closure of markets.

However, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank on the second day of the energy moot also underscored the need for energy conservation as a short-term solution and to bridge the gap between power load and supply.

Both the donor agencies also asked the government to expedite the projects of the new IPPs to get 2,067 MW of electricity in the ongoing year. They also asked the government to ensure the setting up of eight rental power plants to get 1,125 MW of electricity in 2010. In addition, they asked the government to expedite the projects of Nandipuir and Cheechuki Malian, new plants in Guddu power house and rehabilitation of four Gencos to get about 2,350 MW of electricity.

However, a representative of the fertiliser industry feared that allocation of their share of gas to power sector would harm agriculture and the farmers. A press release issued here on Tuesday says that the conference has constituted four technical sub committees that will submit final recommendations. Their recommendations shall be submitted by the minister for water & power to the prime minister for approval. The four sub committees are: energy conservation committee; capacity additions committee; medium term & long term policy measures committee and a special committee to consider miscellaneous energy-specific issues. The four sub committees have representatives from four provincial governments, the federal government’s power and gas sector organisations and private sector representatives from trade, chambers of commerce and industry. These committees shall be convened by their respective conveners to meet on Wednesday and firm up their conclusions/recommendations for final submission the same day.

The second day session was exclusively devoted to technical presentations by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, Pepco, the Thar Coal Energy Board, AEDB and other private sector stakeholders covering a range of energy-specific issues affecting the economy and industry alike. Provincial chief ministers, ministers for petroleum, information, food & agriculture and representatives of the finance division attended the meeting.

The participants held marathon brainstorming sessions over two days to resolve the existing energy crisis through consensus and affirming commitment to share the burden equitably. At the end of the second day, the provincial chief ministers and federal ministers for Water & Power, Information and Broadcasting, Food & Agriculture and Petroleum & Natural resources called on Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and apprised him of the two days’ proceedings. Final decisions based on the technical sub committees’ recommendations shall be approved and announced by the prime minister on Thursday.

Final decisions tomorrow

 

[ajpirzada]

post all the energy conservation news in here..

plz plz plz dont open new threads on this issue

---------- Post added at 02:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:00 AM ----------

Punjab bans business after 9pm




Wednesday, April 21, 2010

By our correspondent

Lahore: In a bid to conserve electricity, the Punjab government has decided to close down all commercial centres, markets and marriage halls after 9pm in the province from today (Wednesday).

Officials said the federal government had directed the Punjab government to take the step, which the Punjab government had followed. Chairing a meeting of traders, the Lahore Division commissioner said the Punjab government had received directions from Islamabad for controlling the ongoing electricity crisis which were implemented immediately.

He said according to the recommendations, all commercial centres and markets would receive uninterrupted power supply from 5pm to 9pm while no shopkeeper would be allowed to continue his business by using generators or UPS.

The commissioner said more electricity would be supplied to hospitals, tube-wells and wheat crushers (Atta Chakkis) in the division. He said no neon sign (private or public) would be illuminated after the sunset, adding billboards or neon signs installed at all the petrol and CNG stations were also included in the ban. The ban would be implemented across the province and no exemption would be given to any commercial enterprise, he maintained.

The commissioner said the provincial metropolis would be divided into seven zones and commercial and business activities would remain suspended on each day in every zone in rotation and the process was called staggering holidays. He said there would be a complete ban on the use of air conditioners in public offices before 11:00 am while one out of every three lights installed in the public offices would be used which would save 33 per cent of their total electricity consumption.

The commissioner announced that no marriage hall would be allowed to hold marriage ceremony after 9pm while half of the lights installed in every public park would be switched off. He made it clear that those who had already booked marriage halls for ceremonies at night could hold their functions after showing the proof of booking during the next 10 days.

Meanwhile, different trader representatives expressed reservations over the measures taken by the Punjab government. The chairman Anjuman-e-Tajiran, Lahore, and President Urdu Bazaar Traders Khalid Pervez said that traders would only support the decision if the shops and commercial plazas in all the posh localities such as Model Town, Cantt, Gulberg and Defence would be closed by the sunset and the government would ensure the implementation of the decision in the posh localities as well. He said it was very difficult for traders to close their shops before 8:00 pm. He said the traders community was already facing crisis due to power shortage and economic slump in the country.

PML-N Traders Wing President Babar Mahmood and Mall Road Traders Wing President Naeem Mir said the delegation of the PML-N Traders Wing would meet Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday (today) to discuss the problems of traders, including imposition of the Value Added Tax (VAT) and closure of shops after the sunset.

Regarding the decision of the closure of shops, he said if people would accept the ban, traders would also accept it. President Qaumi Tajir Ittehad, Punjab, Khwaja Azhar Gulshan said the business community would not support the decision of closure of shops with sunset. However, he said they would support the nine-point agenda given by Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif to save the electricity. He said if the government tried to close the shops forcibly they would resist it.

Punjab bans business after 9pm

 

[ajpirzada]

Accord on measures to ease energy crisis
By Khaleeq Kiani
Wednesday, 21 Apr, 2010


Traders of Chota Bazar burn tyres during a demonstration against loadshedding in Rawapindi. –Online Photo
FRONT PAGE
Punjab takes steps to save energy
Punjab takes steps to save energy
ISLAMABAD: The federal and provincial governments agreed on Tuesday on two weekly off days for six months, advancing clocks by an hour, staggered industrial closure for one day a week, shutting of businesses at sunset, partial diversion of gas from industry to power generation and payment of Rs116 billion to power companies to minimise energy crisis.
Informed sources told Dawn that energy conservation measures agreed to by the chief ministers would reduce energy demand by about 2400MW and other steps to be taken would bring into utilisation about 1300MW of generation capacity currently lying idle because of financial and technical reasons.

The two-day energy summit also agreed to speed up implementation of 1125MW of already approved rental power projects (RPPs) and fast-track completion of another 2100MW of independent power projects (IPPs) within eight months. Even after all these measures, the menace of loadshedding would not end in two years, the sources said.

The prime minister, who was given a briefing on the recommendations, would announce the decisions on Thursday for immediate implementation. He asked the summit to thoroughly deliberate on the recommendations so that no decision was taken in haste. He desired that a completely non-discriminatory and uniform approach for all regions and sectors be adopted in implementation of energy conservation measures.

The sources said the provinces agreed to provide electricity to marriage centres only for three hours – from 8pm to 11pm in Punjab and from 9pm to 12 midnight in Karachi – besides non-provision of electricity to tubewells during peak hours. This would save about 265MW. The electricity to commercial billboards and neon signs would be disconnected and these would be converted into solar power.

After initial bickering, the provinces agreed to a five-day week for six months to spare about 900MW of electricity for industrial sector. The staggering of once a week holiday for industrial sector would provide a saving of about 175MW which would be diverted to commercial centres. The meeting was informed that while industry in Karachi was completely exempted from loadshedding, units in Punjab remained closed for 52 days a year and hence the industrial closure would be on an equitable basis without any discrimination.

Likewise, the closure of business centres at sunset would provide a saving of about 500MW a day while lightening of alternate streetlights would save about 350MW. The participants also agreed to advance clocks by one hour for six months to provide a daylight saving of about 250MW a day. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa proposed to change office and school timings by one hour, instead of advancing clocks, but later agreed to advancing clocks by one hour.

The fertiliser and CNG industry opposed the voluntary diversion of gas to power generation, but were told that the diversion would provide additional electricity of 1200MW a day and they would have to abide by the decision.

The ministry of finance informed the meeting that an amount of Rs116 billion would be injected into the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) within 15 days after the announcement by the prime minister to clear circular debt and improve cash flows of power and oil and gas companies.

Sindh criticised the alleged overbilling by Hyderabad Electric Supply Company and said it had taken the case of the company’s Rs21 billion arrears from 2002-03 to 2010 to the Sindh High Court. The provincial government was urged to pay at least Rs16 billion that it had earlier agreed to on the basis of historical bills and the issue of remaining arrears would be settled through an independent audit.

The international lenders — the World Bank and Asian Development Bank — insisted that the problem could be minimised by reducing line losses, improving efficiency, rehabilitation of transmission and distribution system, increased use of natural gas for power generation that had drastically declined in recent years and the use of solar power for tubewells instead of diesel.

The Sindh government urged the federal government to support development of Thar coal and rehabilitation of Lakhra power project through heavy federal investment so that the issue of electricity shortfall could be overcome on a long-term basis in three to four years.

DAWN.COM | Front Page | Accord on measures to ease energy crisis

 

[ajpirzada]

if they manage to implement this mammoth plan, life will become a lot easier for everyone.

at least we are seeing some initiative being taken by these politicians.

 

[T-Faz]

Finally some solutions that are being put forward, if these go as planned then we will be better off.

I am very happy with this recent trend of getting things done in Pakistan. Seems like we are moving in the right direction.