Pakistan's Energy & Water - News and Updates

[fatman17]

Canadian Commercial Corporation Will Build Another 1 Gigawatt Of Solar In Pakistan
March 1st, 2017 by Saurabh Mahapatra





Originally published on CleanTechies.

Pakistan got a much needed boost for its power sector when, recently, a Canadian government entity announced plans to set up large-scale solar power projects in the South Asian country.

The Canadian Commercial Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan to set up 1,000 megawatts of solar power capacity. The capacity is expected to be installed over a period of three years, but size and location within the province has not yet been disclosed.

Second such agreement with Canada
This is possibly the second such agreement signed by the Canadian government to set up solar power projects in Pakistan. Last year, Canada signed an agreement with the government of Balochistan province to set up 1,000 megawatts of solar capacity. As per the agreement, a Canadian company will set up 20 solar power projects of 50 MW of capacity each. The projects are expected to be distributed across the province.

Pakistan: A suitable market for solar
Pakistan is the perfect location for setting up solar power projects. The company has vast swaths of land to host large-scale solar power projects. The power demand-supply situation in Pakistan has been poor for several years and the country has been marred with frequent and long power outages. The power sector is overwhelmingly dependent on furnace oil and hydro projects for power generation; the former is costly while the latter is highly dependent on rainfall.

Pakistan currently faces a shortfall of around 6,000 megawatts. It has been forced to import electricity from neighboring Iran. The volume of import from Iran stands at 100 megawatts, but Pakistan plans to increase it to 3,000 megawatts.

Attractive tariffs for developers
A number of foreign project developers are looking to invest in Pakistan due to the attractive feed-in tariffs offered by the government. The country is yet to shift to competitive auctions, like many developing countries have.

In late 2015, Pakistan’s National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) announced a 25% reduction in solar feed-in tariffs. Even at these reduced tariffs the developers of these projects are expected to get around 11.0/kWh. In neighboring India, however, tariffs discovered through competitive auction have fallen to 6.5¢/kWh, and more recently to 4.9¢/kWh.



Reprinted with permission.

 

[MAJ ZARAR]

First educate the masses,teach them to stay strong in crises.Teach them morals.Secondly create a happy environment of elites with low class.Thirdly gain their trust and put them on jobs.Fourthly make discipline a must in every walk of live.Lastly,serve the results.

 

[SBD-3]

Tunnel construction work of NJ expected to be complete on Friday. 7 Months to commissioning.

 

[Realistic Change]

Power cuts return as shortfall touches 7,000MW
KHALEEQ KIANIUPDATED 39 MINUTES AGO

ISLAMABAD: Electricity consumers across the country had a bad day on Sunday, when the gap between the demand and supply kept fluctuating between 5,000 and 7,000 megawatts, resulting in extensive power cuts of seven to 10 hours.

The Ministry of Water and Power said the demand crossed 20,223MW at 8pm, compared to peak generation of 15,400 to 15,700MW, a shortfall of 4,786MW.

The shortfall reared its head as temperatures rose to 47 and 48 degrees Celsius in parts of Sindh and south Punjab, while major load centres such as Lahore, Karachi and the areas around Rawalpindi and Islamabad witnessed highs of 43, 37 and 36 degrees Celsius, respectively.

A ministry spokesperson said that Sunday was the first day in nearly a fortnight when scheduled load management was carried out, as distribution companies had been providing maximum supply to consumers over the past two weeks thanks to comparatively lower temperatures.

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Soaring temperatures take demand above 20,000MW
The electricity shortfall on Sunday was generally higher than in the early days of May 2013, when it ranged between 4,000 and 6,000MW. But demand at the time was also lower by 2,000-3,000MW.

The spokesperson said load-shedding varied under different distribution companies, but the average remained within six to eight hours, excluding low-recovery and high-loss areas where longer power cuts were applied by the respective companies.

“There was not a single megawatt of forced load-shedding,” he said, adding that the distribution companies kept on announcing higher schedules for the supply gap where needed.

An official explained that after setting aside the seven per cent transmission and transformation losses and 19pc distribution loss, the total energy reaching the consumers based on official numbers would be around 11,600MW.

This meant the indicative shortfall went beyond 8,500MW, or about 12 hours of load-shedding on average, based on a thumb rule of a 700MW gap resulting in one hour of load-shedding.

It was a rare day for power sector engineers, since it started with a gap of almost 6,000MW, as generation stood at 13,800MW at 9am against a demand of 19,600MW.

This was mainly due to the closure of five old power plants at Guddu due to the non-availability of natural gas, leaving the 747MW project to generate about 680MW.

Two units of Hubco and one of Nandipur were on outage, while one unit each at the newly-inducted Bhikki and Haveli Bahadur Shah plants kept going in and out of the system because of incomplete testing issues.

An official said there was almost 1,000MW of unaccounted draw of generation by some distribution companies against their allocated shares, due to non-metering and communication gaps.

Reports from various parts of the country suggested six to eight hours of load-shedding in major urban centres and up to 18 hours in the rural areas.

Sources say the hydropower projects contributed a maximum of 4,280MW, while public-sector generation companies produced 2,877MW and independent power producers (IPPs) almost 8,300mw.

They said the hydropower stations were generating about 3,400MW in the morning, but reasonable water quantities were retained to maximise output to 4,280MW for peak demand. Production from public sector thermal plants and IPPs was also ramped up by 150MW and 600MW between the morning and peak evening time because of financial and fuel constraints.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2017

 

[Realistic Change]

Wasn't loadshedding scheduled to end within six months?

Even after 4 years Shahbaz Sharif is saying that its 10-12 hours in urban areas of Punjab.

What's this SS - what name should we suggest for you?

 

[Path-Finder]

https://twitter.com/x/status/861906100467228672

 

[Path-Finder]

https://twitter.com/x/status/862562197511262208

 

[VCheng]

The situation remains dire:

https://www.dawn.com/news/1340980/emergency-in-the-power-sector

Emergency in the power sector
Khurram Husain


THIS is coming to emergency levels and there is no option now but to shout this out as loudly as possible in the hope that somebody, somewhere, will hear the appeal and find a way to stop this madness. In a nutshell, here is what is happening: the government is laying the groundwork to have you and I, and all other paying consumers of power in this country, foot the bill for the entire circular debt which has surged once again to 2013 levels, approaching half a trillion rupees.

After this, they will use the same mechanism to pass onto us the bill for the massive cost escalations that are about to hit all the power projects that we are so often reminded are being implemented to ‘eliminate load-shedding’. Of course, no such thing will happen, even though the country will be surplus in power generation in a year’s time, but the bills will still need to be paid by us.

How are they doing this? By tweaking a 1998 law to allow the government to add on any surcharges and miscellaneous fees to power bills whenever they want.

Currently the government has the power to add on miscellaneous charges, but still requires the approval of Nepra, the power regulator. The amendments that they are now preparing to railroad through parliament will do away with this formality.

A little known clause was added to the Nepra Act through the finance bill in 2008. That clause, paragraph 5 of Section 31, reads as follows: “Each distribution company shall pay to the federal government such surcharge as the federal government, from time to time, notify in respect of each unit of electric power sold to the consumers and any amount paid under this sub-section shall be considered as a cost incurred by the distribution company to be included in the tariff determined by the authority.”

It was under this clause that the earliest of these surcharges was added to the bills of consumers in Punjab. The Neelum Jhelum surcharge, charged at 10 paisa per unit. Nepra approved this surcharge to run till 2015. Then came a string of other surcharges. There was the “financing cost surcharge” at 42 paisa per unit, and a “tariff rationalisation surcharge” at rates that differed depending on consumer category, and a “universal obligation fund surcharge”. The rationalisation surcharge was withdrawn in 2013, the other two were notified in 2014 only to be met with a court challenge

In a 2015 judgement, the Lahore High Court struck them down. That decision was subsequently overturned in the Supreme Court, but the principle of ensuring that surcharges be approved by Nepra, and not be imposed arbitrarily by the government through its relevant ministries, remained intact.

The petitioners argued in that case that “the entire purpose and function of Nepra is defeated when the federal government levies a surcharge and deems it as a cost without any scrutiny from the regulator or under the tariff determination process”, going on to argue that doing so “amounts to regulatory capture”. The government argued that surcharges “represent the cost of the system ie, the cost of transmission, generation and distribution of electric power consumed and includes capital and development costs for future projects to produce electricity” and are necessary to ensure the stability of the system.

Governments have longed chafed at the inconvenience of going through Nepra in order to recover additional dues from consumers. These dues are sought in the name of fancy-sounding principles, such as ‘system stability’, ‘ensuring equity in power pricing’, or ‘arranging future generation capacity’. In truth, it is simply a hunt for resources to pay for system inefficiencies and government ineptitude.

In the fancy jargon of the power sector, they call it ‘full cost recovery’. What this means is that the full cost of the power sector will be recovered from those who are faithfully paying their bills, and dutifully using a legal connection to draw their power. And if the cost of loss and theft, penalties and rents, cannot be passed onto the consumer directly through the tariff, then the roundabout way of doing that is through surcharges and miscellaneous fees. Except that the law, even as stated in the amendment introduced in 2008, still requires the approval of Nepra, an independent and autonomous body that need not bow to government dictates.

Nepra is the only entity standing between power consumers and the thieves and rent seekers who leach off the system. By taking the power to impose surcharges and fees out of its hands and placing it squarely into the hands of the government, the regulator is basically being bypassed and the consumer interest, which is at odds with the private interests of the power generation companies, will now be hostage to the government’s revenue requirements.

When the government came into power, there was a huge circular debt of almost Rs500 billion that had crippled the system and stalled power generation, resulting in massive load-shedding across the country. They extinguished that problem by releasing the entire amount in one go to all power producers. The result was a surge in the fiscal deficit, sending it beyond eight per cent of GDP.

Now as they approach their final year, the circular debt is back to the same level, and before they hand power over to an interim government, they have to ensure that it is brought down to zero again, lest it cripple the power sector during those crucial three months when an interim government will be running things.

But zeroing the circular debt from government money will result in a sharp spike in the fiscal deficit, exposing the fragility of the economic recovery that is such a central part of the government’s story. So then we have plan B, which is to change the law to enable that entire half-a-trillion rupee overhang to be passed onto us, the consumer, through our bills instead.

The writer is a member of staff.

 

[Introvert]

Pakistan may benefit from Canadian expertise to up energy generation

ISLAMABAD - High Commissioner of Canada Perry John Calderwood has said that Pakistan and Canada have good potential to enhance cooperation in ICT, agriculture, energy, mining and other fields and private sectors of both countries have to play the leading role in exploiting these opportunities.

He said that Canada and Pakistan could complement each other in many areas by sharing expertise and developing partnerships. He said Canada was quite strong in oil & gas, hydro & solar power and Pakistan could benefit from its expertise to improve its energy generation. He was addressing the business community at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Calderwood said that Canada was an advanced economy and Pakistan could achieve better results by developing close cooperation with it. He said Canada was providing development assistance to Pakistan for women economic empowerment and added that the new development policy of Canada would also benefit Pakistan. He said Pakistan was a potential country for business and investment, but due to security concerns, Canadian investors were avoiding to visit Pakistan. However, he said the security situation was now improving and he was hopeful that it will help Canadian investors to explore Pakistan.

Khalid Iqbal Malik, President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that Pakistan and Canada enjoyed old friendly relations as they established diplomatic relations in 1947. However, bilateral trade of just over $1 billion in 2015 did not reflect the real potential of both countries. He said that trade in limited items was the main reason of low trade volume and stressed that both countries should focus on trade diversification to improve bilateral trade figure. He said that trade balance was in favor of Canada and it should enhance its imports from Pakistan as many Pakistan products could meet the needs of Canadian customers at affordable cost. He emphasized that Canadian businessmen should benefit from Pakistan’s IT-enabled services in animation and gaming, retail banking and finance, mobile content, document management and call centers.

ICCI President said that many sectors of Pakistan’s economy including oil & gas, infrastructure, power generation, information & communication technologies, mining, agro business, wood sector and science & technology offered great investment potential to Canadian companies and they should explore these sectors. He said Pakistan needed more oil rigs and mining equipment to exploit its vast natural resources and Canada should take benefit of these opportunities.

He said Canadian investors should also explore joint ventures and investment in CPEC projects in Pakistan. He said that Pakistani exporters have to face cumbersome visa formalities for attending trade fairs in Canada while its travel advisories discouraged Canadian businesspeople from visiting Pakistan.

Khalid Malik, Senior Vice President ICCI, welcomed Perry John Calderwood and introduced his profile to the business community. He urged that Canadian authorities should revisit business visa regime and travel advisory for Pakistan to facilitate more bilateral economic engagement between the private sectors of both countries.

http://nation.com.pk/business/19-Ju...om-canadian-expertise-to-up-energy-generation

 

[Introvert]

France, Pakistan sign €165mln loan accord for energy sector

France on Thursday signed an agreement with Pakistan to provide the country with a loan of 165 million Euro to help it enhance power transmission network and rehabilitate a hydropower project.

Secretary finance Shahid Mehmood, Ambassador of France Martine Dorance and country director of the French Agency for Development (AFD) Jacky Amprou signed the soft loan agreement at the ministry of finance.

Finance minister Ishaq Dar witnessed the loan signing agreement. The loan agreement is aimed at financing energy sector projects, including power transmission enhancement investment tranche-IV and Mangla power plant rehabilitation project.

Minster Dar appreciated the AFD’s continued support and assistance for economic development of Pakistan. Ambassador Dorance said the main objective of the program is to make energy sector more affordable, reliable and sustainable, supporting the country’s economic growth through expeditious implementation of the National Power Policy 2013.

“France is pleased to extend support to Pakistan in different areas,” he added. In June, AFD also co-financed a loan programme worth over $400 million of Asian Development Bank to support the country’s efforts to provide a more reliable and secure energy sector.

ADB approved financial assistance of $300 million, the third such loan under the sustainable energy sector reform programme, while AFD agreed to add €100 million as the co-financing. “As co-financing partner in the reforms project, AFD is committed to promoting green energies in Pakistan through investments in low carbon emission energy generation in line with Paris agreement approved by the Parliament of Pakistan,” Amprou of AFD said in a statement.

Under the energy sector reform programme, Pakistan has embarked on a substantial reform initiative that will reduce energy subsidies and adjust tariff policy, improve sector performance and open the market to private participation, and increase accountability and transparency.

The reform measures aim at addressing the financial viability and reduce costs to taxpayers. Specific measures include recently agreed legislation that will improve governance through more clearly defined roles for both the government and the power regulator, and reduce debt level in the energy sector.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/217805-France-Pakistan-sign-165mln-loan-accord-for-energy-sector

 

[Introvert]

Pakistan signs deal to construct US$698.3 million Sharmai hydropower project

Pakistan is moving forward with hydropower development in its northwestern-most province, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), located in the district of Dir near Afghanistan’s eastern border, according the government of KP.

KP made the announcement on July 23 after Pakistan Chief Minister Pervez Khattak signed an agreement between Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organization (PEDO) and a consortium of Sinohydro and Lahore-based Sapphire Electric Co. for construction of the 150-MW Sharmai hydropower project.

PEDO Chief Executive Officer, Akbar Ayub, said the project is expected to be completed in five years at an estimated cost of US$698.3 million. But, he did not provide any information on the project’s start date.

Information from KP indicates the Sharmai hydro project will include a dam and reservoir, and the powerhouse will be located near Darora village and on the confluence of Usherai Khwar Stream and Panjkora River.

Additional technical information for the project includes the following:

• Net head – 196.6 m;
• Annual energy generation – 682 GWh;
• Reservoir capacity – 32.2 million cubic meters;
• Length of power tunnel – 7.8 km; and
• Catchment area – 1,950 km2.

The Sharmai hydro project continues the country’s recent trend towards massive planned infrastructure improvements.

Pakistan and French Agency for Development on July 20 signed US$192 million in soft loan agreements to improve Pakistan’s energy sector, including rehabilitating the 1,000-MW Mangla hydropower project, according to the government of Pakistan.

The Mangla hydropower project is a multipurpose facility located on the Jhelum River in Mirpur district of Azad Kashmir. It includes Mangla Dam, which is the seventh largest dam in the world; the country’s largest reservoir, which has a live storage capacity of 7.48 million acre feet; and 10 generating units.

Earlier this year, China and Pakistan signed a US$50 billion memorandum of understanding on May 13 to develop and complete the Indus River Cascade, according to information from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

The planned cascade includes the 4,500-MW Diamer-Basha project, which is already being constructed and four additional projects being developed: 2,400-MW Patan; 4,000-MW Thakot; 7,100-MW Bunji; and 4,320-MW Dasu.

In 2016, HydroWorld.com reported KP's hydroelectric power development fund approved the 84-MW Matiltan, 69-MW Daral Khwar, 69-MW Lawi, 40.8-MW Koto and 10.2-MW Jabori plants – all of which are currently in development. In addition, feasibility studies are being conducted for the 446-MW Kari Mushkar, 410-MW Tor Camp Godobar and 110-MW Gabral Kalam.

Ayub also said seven additional hydropower projects with a total combined installed capacity of 668 MW would be initiated through private sector that would bring $2 billion investment in the province, according to government information.

http://www.hydroworld.com/articles/2017/07/pakistan-signs-deal-to-construct-us-698-3-million-sharmai-hydropower-project.html

 

[Introvert]

Korean investors offer fuel production from waste

LAHORE: A group of South Korean investors is keen to invest $60 million in Punjab for setting up a waste management plant that will convert waste products into diesel.

The proposal was put forward by a high-level delegation, led by Heritage International Chairman Ko Moon Seok, Vice Chairman Chang Hyo Soon and K-biz International’s Kim Won Taek, which visited Punjab Board of Investment and Trade’s (PBIT) headquarters.

The visiting delegates said their independent and successful company transformed 100 tons of waste into more than 50% energy resource (ie diesel) in Korea and offered to set up a similar plant in Punjab.

They cited the waste items that were used in the process which included tyres, animal waste, plastics, trees, drain sludge, rubber, food waste, etcetera, adding that the diesel to be produced by the unit would be consumable immediately.

A desire for international expansion was behind their experimentation in Pakistan, the delegates said, elaborating that plants were also being established in Germany, Canada and Saudi Arabia.

The plant would require seven hectares of land while its construction would take six months to a year, they said.

“The biggest unit requires 100 people for its working whereas the smallest unit needs 10 workers,” the delegates noted, while highlighting the expected job creation by the plant.

PBIT Chief Executive Officer Jahanzeb Burana asked the potential investors to provide a solid proposal, while offering coordination with the Lahore Waste Management Authority to better structure their plan for Punjab.

He said Pakistan was a free market and had a high garbage output of over 10,000 tons per day. He suggested building vocational centres as well for running the plant, adding that a letter for expression of interest was required for further processing.

He also assured the investors of PBIT’s support in the endeavour, adding his organisation would facilitate the acquisition of land and obtaining clearance from the government departments concerned.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/1477004/korean-investors-offer-fuel-production-waste/

 

[Stephen Cohen]

Abbasi cracks the whip as loadshedding returns

 

[salman77]

Pakistan’s green energy will reach 2,626MW in 2018

​

KARACHI: Pakistan’s production of Renewable Energy (RE), also known as green energy is increasing with every passing day and its total installed capacity of Renewable Energy (RE) would reach up to 2626 MW by December, 2018, Daily Times learnt.

“In addition, 2,600 MW would be added by 2019-20 with new wind power projects of 1200 MW capacity and solar power projects of around 1400 MW capacity each are being planned to be developed,” Amjad Ali Awan, Chief Executive Officer, Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) told a group of journalists who were on visit at Jhimpir wind power projects based in Sindh’s Thatta district.

AEDB is the focal agency of Federal Ministry of Water and Power mandated with the promotion and development of Alternative & Renewable Energy Technologies in the country. Awan said Pakistan was taking serious measures to harness the available Renewable Energy (RE) potential of the country to diversify its energy mix and ensure energy security and sustainable development in the country. “RE sector of Pakistan becomes investment destination for private investors and has attracted a foreign investment of more than US 4.6 billion,” he added.

He claimed that with the continued efforts of AEDB in last couple of year, Pakistan for the first time was included in the top 40 globally most attractive countries for renewable energy investment as per the E&Y Renewable Energy Attractiveness Index (RECAI) issue, produced by Ernst & Young, May 2016.

“Based upon the latest RECA Index issued by E&Y, Pakistan’s ranking has been tremendously improved from previous 38 to present 25 number. This is strong indicator showing consistent progress of Pakistan in terms of its attractiveness for the investors in the alternative energy sector,” he added.

Resource Mapping: Awan informed that AEDB in cooperation with World Bank is implementing a Renewable Energy Resource Mapping activity covering all of Pakistan. The project is funded by World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) and focuses on the assessment of wind, solar and biomass resources, including ground-based data collection, GIS analysis, and geospatial planning.

Based upon the ground based data, the latest version of sole maps are developed first times in Pakistan. These Solar maps give an overall idea of power generation potential in the country based upon solar energy resources.

“Regarding wind energy resources in the country, the wind data is being collected through installed wind masts and the wind maps are expected to be released by next year,” he added.

http://dailytimes.com.pk/business/21-Sep-17/pakistans-green-energy-will-reach-2626mw-in-2018

 

[razgriz19]

GE's flagship turbines are having a host of problems in Pakistan — and they could be a troubling sign for the Guinness World Record-breaking product around the world

https://amp-businessinsider-com.cdn...ised-over-ges-flagship-power-turbines-2017-12