Pakistan Takes Up The Challenge of Crumbling Power Generation Supply - Again

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The available power generation available in Pakistan on any given day is always an estimate, as there is usually uncertainty about how many units in the country's generation fleet are operating, which ones are running below capacity, and how river flows are affecting hydropower plant capacity. Pakistan's hydropower output can vary between a minimum of 2,414 megawatts (MW) and a maximum of 6,761 MW.

In 2010, the total installed power capacity was said to be just below 19,000 MW, and demand was about 14,500 MW. However, only 10,000 MW was generated throughout the country leaving a shortfall of 4,500 MW.

There have been a number of plans and targets set in the past 10 years to alleviate the country's power ills, but the next plan has inherited the wreckage of the previous one. The government has announced a policy to face the problems of the decrepit parts of the system head-on by replacing older and inefficient power plants with the latest efficient power technologies.

The Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) (Lahore, Pakistan) is developing the combined-cycle 750-MW Guddu thermal power plant with two FE Frame 9FA gas turbines and associated generators. The new units are an expansion of the existing Guddu site, 650 kilometers south of the country's commercial capital Karachi, which currently has 1,050 MW thermal power plants and a combined-cycle plant with GE technology that has been in operation since the mid-1980s. In addition to the new gas turbines, the plant will add a 261-MW steam turbine bringing the total up to 750 MW capacity.

The GE turbines will be installed by September 2012, and the contract covers control systems, installation services, performance testing of the turbines and customer training.

Tahir Basharat Cheema, the managing director of PEPCO, said that energy deficiency was hurting the industrial sector and domestic and commercial activities due to continuous load shedding of eight to 10 hours a day in rural areas and four to six hours a day in urban areas. He said that the new highly efficient Guddu plant will help reduce the country's demand-supply gap.

In February 2010, GE signed a memorandum of understanding with Pakistan's government to assist in promoting the modernization of the country's infrastructure and economy. The focus will be on energy resources to meet projected demand of 54,000 MW by 2020. The stabilization of the country's social and political conditions will continue to be critical if a generating capacity anywhere near the figure is to be reached.

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