| December 31, 2006 | Sunday | Zilhaj 09, 1427 |
| December 31, 2006 | Sunday | Zilhaj 09, 1427 |
ISLAMABAD, Dec 30: The World Bank has advised Pakistan to explore new options for generating additional electricity in order to avoid a countrywide loadshedding.
Sources told Dawn that the bank suggested to the government to explore renewable sources of energy, such as wind, biomass and solar energy to meet power requirements. Islamabad was also advised to drastically improve its infrastructure that invariably created problems for industrial, commercial and domestic electricity users.
The consumption of electricity is generally regarded as an index of economic prosperity of a country. The present per capita electricity consumption in Pakistan is about one-tenth of the world average.
Therefore, a lot more was required to be done in the field of power generation, said the bank, as quoted by the sources.
“The government has informed the donor agencies that Pakistan has indigenous source of power in the form of big reserves of coal, but due to constraints on mechanised coal mining ability, the resource utilisation is minimal at this stage. However, it believed that renewable sources -- with the exception of wind energy, which too has site dependent characteristics -- cannot generate power on large scale,” said the sources.
The government also informed the donor agencies that future load forecast had been prepared so as to plan adequate facilities for generation, transmission and distribution of the electric power in an orderly manner, they said, adding that the latest forecast demand of 16,2590MW till the year 2030 had been firmed up and various projects were being finalised accordingly, to be completed with the financial support of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Major electric power needs are presently met through the National Grid. Even though the network encompasses most of the country, there are remote areas that are yet to be connected to the national grid.
The sources said that the donor agencies did not believe in the government’s ability to fulfil its promise of providing electricity across the country by December 2007 particularly due to the crumbling power infrastructure, corruption and line loses.
At present, the country is generating 19,547MW which, when compared to the future demand forecast, clearly showed the requirement of extensive addition to the power generation capacity. The sources said that the government had also informed the donors that concerned organisations were identifying gas fields currently offering limited gas supplies for limited periods. In this regard, the government believed that the screening could be done to short-list five to 10 promising gas fields from where either the gas could be pooled at a nearby site for power generation or where small-scale power project could be independently set-up, the said, adding that further studies would be carried out to ascertain the best option for utilisation of gas from these fields for power generation.
As such, viability will be ascertained to develop either a medium to large-scale power project based on gas pooled at some central place or small-scale portable power projects to utilise the available gas to the maximum and shift these power plants to other similar sites.
The power produced from such plants, according to concerned officials, can either be fed to the national grid or be used in isolation for the specific area, depending upon the site.
In this regard, the ADB has offered to help conduct feasibility study with a team of local and foreign consultants to be appointed by the Pakistan Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB).
Of the total installed capacity, 6,599MW power is being generated through hydel stations and 12,335MW through thermal power stations while the remaining 612MW comes through various nuclear and coal-powered stations.
Electricity generated through imported fuel source is expensive. Besides, large infrastructure costs are involved in transmission of electricity to remove areas.
“Thus there is need for exploring other options for power supply to remote areas,” said a source.
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