Ten hour loadshedding in rural areas
The electricity shortfall pushed up to staggering 5,400MW when two power generation plants ground to a halt. — File Photo
LAHORE: Two power generation plants and two units of a third one ground to a halt on Saturday pushing up the electricity shortfall to a staggering 5,400MW and leaving most parts of the country to suffer up to 10 hours of loadshedding.
On Saturday morning, the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) faced a deficit of 4,000MW but in the afternoon 300MW Chashma power plant, Uchh power plant with a capacity of 500MW and two units of Hub Power Company, each producing 300MW, stopped operation, causing a shortfall of 1,400MW.
According to Pepco director-general (energy management) Mohammad Khalid, the management of Uchh Power Company linked the problem to stoppage of gas supply to its plant.
The Chashma nuclear power plant developed some technical fault and so did the two units of Hubco.
Hubco officials assured Pepco that their units would resume generation within the next 24 hours and said the company would try to arrange supply of gas to the Uchh Power Company. Mr Khalid said the situation at the Chashma plant was not clear and no one could say with certainty when it would restart work.
Although Pepco was keeping big cities from the impact, loadshedding in rural areas had multiplied – up to 10 hours or beyond, he admitted.
An early arrival of monsoon and humid weather has caused an increase in electricity demand to over 17,095MW. The total generation on Saturday morning was 13,100MW, leaving a deficit of 3,995MW. The hydel component contributed 5,194MW to the system, thermal 2,332MW and independent power producers (IPPs) 5,520MW. But in the afternoon, the share of IPPs dropped by 1,400MW.
The official said that under the power generation standard operating procedure, 10 per cent of total generation capacity could go offline any moment for technical reasons.
“It is taken as a cushion, and not part of generation.
“But since the generation system in Pakistan is overstretched and there is no concept of cushioning generation, everything turns into crisis,” he added.
If you want to follow news on your mobile, click on http://dawn.com/mobile/ and download Pakistan's first mobile news application. Currently this application is for Nokia phones only
On Saturday morning, the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) faced a deficit of 4,000MW but in the afternoon 300MW Chashma power plant, Uchh power plant with a capacity of 500MW and two units of Hub Power Company, each producing 300MW, stopped operation, causing a shortfall of 1,400MW.
According to Pepco director-general (energy management) Mohammad Khalid, the management of Uchh Power Company linked the problem to stoppage of gas supply to its plant.
The Chashma nuclear power plant developed some technical fault and so did the two units of Hubco.
Hubco officials assured Pepco that their units would resume generation within the next 24 hours and said the company would try to arrange supply of gas to the Uchh Power Company. Mr Khalid said the situation at the Chashma plant was not clear and no one could say with certainty when it would restart work.
Although Pepco was keeping big cities from the impact, loadshedding in rural areas had multiplied – up to 10 hours or beyond, he admitted.
An early arrival of monsoon and humid weather has caused an increase in electricity demand to over 17,095MW. The total generation on Saturday morning was 13,100MW, leaving a deficit of 3,995MW. The hydel component contributed 5,194MW to the system, thermal 2,332MW and independent power producers (IPPs) 5,520MW. But in the afternoon, the share of IPPs dropped by 1,400MW.
The official said that under the power generation standard operating procedure, 10 per cent of total generation capacity could go offline any moment for technical reasons.
“It is taken as a cushion, and not part of generation.
“But since the generation system in Pakistan is overstretched and there is no concept of cushioning generation, everything turns into crisis,” he added.
If you want to follow news on your mobile, click on http://dawn.com/mobile/ and download Pakistan's first mobile news application. Currently this application is for Nokia phones only
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