Caught between a rock and hard place, the government has started looking for the dismaying rental power plants, including kosher captive power plants and mobile solar plants to overcome the massive power shortages in Punjab during the summer season.
An official source said that the decision was made after Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, bluntly told the Cabinet Committee on Energy, chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, on April 24 that the country was facing a huge shortage of electricity as the gap between demand and supply was increasing, leading to an inevitable shortage.
The power plants being built in the country will not achieve COD before the end of 2017, further stressing upon the dire need to take emergency measures and also suggested utilising mobile power plants (rental power plants), restoration of idle power plants and encouraging the industrial sector to operationalise their captive power plants. He proposed bringing in rental power plants for at least one year to end load shedding.
After the blunt statement from the Punjab chief minister, the prime minister directed the ministry of water and power to consider utilisation of mobile power plants. It is important to mention that the ministry, for the last two years, has been stressing to utilise closed RPPs. However, the proposal was not considered as the ruling party (PML-N) had already contested the RPPs in the court, resulting in a political debate. The kosher attempt to make RPPs – MPPs will work this time, the source added.
During the meeting, Punjab chief minister challenged the load shedding figures of the Ministry of Water and Power which claimed that there was a load shedding of six hours in cities and eight hours in villages. However, the CM said that in Lahore alone, the blackouts have surpassed 12 hours a day.
After directions from the government, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has notified holding a public hearing in order to determine the upfront tariff for RPPs and CPPs on May 11. NEPRA has worked out upfront tariff of Rs 6.13 per unit for plants utilising coal, Rs 7.50 per unit for LNG and Rs 11.92 per unit for RFO.
The prime minister, sources said, was so annoyed with the performance of the power sector that he directed the ministry of water and power to immediately order performance audits of board of directors and managements of the various power sector entities. The government wants maximum power generation during summers to stop any public campaign by the opposition parties.
