ISLAMABAD: The government has shelved its short-term plan to set up plants to generate 1,000 megawatts of electricity from raw gas in Sindh by summer this year.

A senior government official told Dawn after a meeting of the cabinet committee on energy (CCE) headed by the prime minister that another plan to generate 1,000MW by reviving some rental power plants — also in Sindh — had been slightly delayed.

He said the CCE had decided to extend till Jan 26 the bidding for short-term small power plants — 600MW near Jamshoro and 400MW in areas under the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) — after the interested parties sought more time.

The bidding earlier set for Dec 1 last year was extended for 15 days because of Christmas holidays.

The official said there had been no progress in the plan to induct the 1,000MW raw gas plants.

The CCE, he said, had been informed by the petroleum ministry that it was not possible to ensure adequate gas supply for the plants.

The quantity of gas available for the purpose contains many impurities and will require substantial investments to make it useable. Also, private parties are not interested in these plants because of short-term gas availability.

The CCE meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, was informed that even if investors showed interest in the plants the tariff would be extremely high.

The official said the committee could not take a decision on a long-term plan to set up 3,600MW LNG-run power plants in Punjab because presentations made by the petroleum minister and the additional secretary of water and power triggered discussions involving other matters.

The matter will be taken up by the committee next week.

A plan for setting up 5,600MW gas-based power projects in Sindh and Punjab has been finalised by a sub-committee of the CCE headed by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, despite opposition by Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on technical grounds.

The plan consists of two phases. In the first phase, 2,000MW will be produced by trailer-mounted small power projects of 20-50MW in service areas of Hesco and Sukkur Electric Power Company as a stop-gap arrangement for two to three years because of availability of gas for a short period.

In the second phase, 3,600MW plants based on imported LNG will be set up in Punjab’s load centres where transmission lines are already there.

These will be set up at three sites — Balloki and Bhikki near Lahore, and Haveli Bhadarjang near Jhang.

According to sources, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources has promised to provide about 500 million cubic feet of LNG a day by March 31 and subsequently ramp up supplies through a pipeline from Karachi to Lahore in three years.

Prime Minister Sharif told the meeting that his government’s priority was to increase generation through short-term projects and contribute additional electricity to the national grid by this summer.

He said that efficient projects should be undertaken to provide electricity at affordable rates. Alternative sources of energy, including solar and wind power, must also be tapped to reduce dependence on one source and all impediments in the way of speedy generation should be removed.

The meeting was informed that expression of interest had been invited for construction of 1100km south-north gas pipeline to be completed in two phases.

It will help reduce cost of gas transmission and production of electricity.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2015

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