Power generation drastically reduced

Lahore: Owing to the restricted water releases from the Tarbela and Mangla reservoirs, the capacity of power generation supplying to the NTDC system has been reduced drastically, allowing the Mangla and Tarbela hydro stations capable of generating up to a maximum of 4,600 MW and producing 1,750 MW on the average daily basis.

The GTPS Faisalabad could only produce 50 MWs against its capacity of 160 MW because of curtailment of gas supply by SNGPL. The situation had compounded due to routine annual shutdown of some thermal units including the 412 MW Rouche and the 362 MW AES Lal Pir - both IPPs. The situation aggravated with the 365 MW Pak Gen IPP going on forced outage.

Up to 1,683 MW of thermal power would not be available up to late December. However, this capacity is expected to be available before the annual closure of canals in Punjab and Sindh, stated Pepco spokesman here on Tuesday.

According to spokesman, this situation has created a gap varying between 1500 MWs during evening peak hours to 400 MWs during late night hours in supply and demand of electricity. The shortfall during daytime was estimated to be around 1000 MW. He said distribution companies (Discos) had to resort to a bad management and energy conservation measures to meet this shortfall and to minimise chances of load-shedding, which led to great inconvenience for our valued customers.

It was further explained that load management was being conducted uniformly and across the board on the basis of demand, which also included supply to the KESC. The spokesman said that the situation is likely to improve in the first week of November, when water releases from Tarbela and Mangla are expected to increase because of higher irrigation demands and when the IPPs and Gen Co units on forced outages are expected to be repaired and brought back online.

The supply situation would further improve with plants joining in after their routine annual maintenance. The spokesman said that electricity customer was being requested to conserve electricity to help meet the shortfall so that imperative industrial, agriculture and business activities are not affected.