Pakistan approves plan to have 61,000 MWs electricity generation capacity by 2030

ISLAMABAD, Sept. 25 (Gwadar Pro) - The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) approved an ambitious plan to expand electricity generation capacity from existing 34,776 megawatts to 61,112 MWs in 2030.

Pakistan’s first ever ‘Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan 2021-30’ envisages that Alternative and Renewable Energy will constitute 60% of the total installed capacity by 2030, NEPRA said on September 24. The share of oil-based generation capacity will drop from the existing 19% to only 2% while that of local coal based plants will go up to 6%, reducing dependence on imported coal from 11% to around 8%, it added.

Under the plan, the peak demand in 2030 is estimated at 37,129MWs as compared to the current 23,792MWs. The total consumption in 2030 is projected at 207,418 GWh as against the 130,652 GWh in 2021,  NEPRA said.

As per the plan prepared by National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC), 73 power projects of 22,415 MWs are currently underway in the country in private and government sectors, including China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative. Moreover, 143 projects with a total capacity of 10,062 MWs have been optimised as candidate projects. Also, 6,447 MWs of expensive thermal power plants will be retired during the period upon completion of the agreement terms.

In its observation, NEPRA directed NTDC to include two separate power projects meant for Gwadar and CPEC’s Bolan Special Economic Zone into the category of ‘committed projects’ for being at the ‘centre stage of CPEC’. It said that these projects were immensely important to generate electricity near the load centres, which are not yet connected with the National Grid.

The report said that CPEC’s 720MWs Karot, 300 MWs Gwadar and 884 MWs Suki Kinari power projects are expected to be commissioned in June 2023.

The Authority noted that a project of Sindh government in Thar Block 6 in collaboration with UK-based Oracle Power PLC to generate over 1,300 MWs local coal based electricity had been included in the list of priority projects under CPEC. NEPRA directed NTDC to consider the project for inclusion in the list of ‘committed projects’ in its yearly review. The Oracle Power PLC has signed an agreement with the China Coal Energy Co., a subsidiary of state-owned China National Coal Group Co. Ltd. for execution of the project.