As improved water flows boost hydel generation, KANUPP-2 is set to return online after refuelling.
By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: As the Indus starts to swell with the onset of Monsoon rains, power generation capacity of the Tarbela hydroelectric plant is set to improve by 2,500 MW and 3,500 MW, allowing the authorities to cut back load shedding, Independent Pakistan can report.
Another happy circumstance contributing to further easing of power rationing is the return of Karachi’s second nuclear power plant back online, adding 1,150 MW of powr generation capacity to the national grid.
Altogether, between 3,500 MW and 4,500 MW of electricity will be added to the national grid by the two back-to-back developments, Federal Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir has told Independent Pakistan.
The Minister said Karachi Electric’s KANUPP-2, that has remained offline for some time because of a refuelling operation, is set to return online.
Khan said that the power demand peaked on June 30, 2022 when it exceeded 30,000 MW – exposing claims by former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) that capacity charges were burdening the economy because the last PML (N) government installed power plants exceeding the requirement of the country.
Inquired about government’s efforts for getting cheap RLNG from Qatar, he said that everyone was looking towards signing a deal with the IMF because the trust deficit created by the previous government was difficult to measure but it was haunting the incumbent regime in all aspects.
Meanwhile, the government has floated tenders for the procurement of 10 cargos of RLNG to fuel power plants in July and August 2022. The acquisition is likely to cost the national kitty in the range of USD 1.1 billion to USD 1.4 billion at a time when the foreign exchange reserves are declining at an accelerated pace.
With inflows of commercial Chinese loans of USD 2.3 billion, the foreign currency reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan crossed USD 10 billion mark. The foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP stood at USD 21 billion in August 2021 but had declined to USD 8.2 billion prior to receiving USD 2.3 billion from China.
In May and June, the government procured 9 cargos of RLNG to run the power plants at cost of USD 900 million. This is more than twice the amount recovered from consumers as electricity bills. This means a hefty addition to the monster power sector circular debt.
The ongoing procurement of 10 more cargos at a cost ranging between USD 1.1 billion and USD 1.4 billion will further add to the circular debt. The Minister said the government does not have unlimited resources to provide unbridled subsidy, especially when the country is under a stringent bailout program from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
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