Supply from Jhimpir Wind Farm to go down: KE seeks 60 MMCFD more gas to operate BQPS-II

ISLAMABAD: K-Electric has sought an additional 60 MMCFD gas to operate its BQPS-II for 45 days on gas instead of expensive furnace Oil (FO) as supply from Jhimpir Wind Farm will be reduced to 200-250 MW during the shutdown period.

In a letter to Minister for Energy, Muhammad Ali, Chief Executive Officer Syed Moonis Abdullah Alvi has sought intervention of the top brass of Energy Ministry (Petroleum Division and Power Division).

The National Transmission & Despatch Company (NTDC) is availing shutdown of its network (500kV K2K3 - NKI circuit) for 45 days outage period from mid of September to the end of October 2023.

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According to K-Electric, due to the outage and in times of reduction in power generation from Jhimpir wind corridor, supply to KE from the National Grid is being curtailed by 200-250 MW.

The KE is presently getting 30 MMCFD of RLNG from SSGC, which is significantly lower than the ECC allocated 276 MMCFD of gas supply for KE.

The current supply of 30 MMCFD RLNG is not sufficient to operate 560 MW gas-based combined cycle power plant (BQPS-II) at full load, as per the Economic Merit Order (ECO), to meet the shortfall caused by NTDC outage and variability in power generation in Jhimpir wind corridor.

The KE noted that power demand in its territory increased during the month of September and October, and the power demand in September 2023 has already crossed 3,000 MW with further increase expected in later half of September and during the month of October.

Therefore, to manage the reduction in supply to KE from NTDC and insufficient gas supply preventing the power utility company from operating BQPS-Il at full load “We will either have to burn Furnace Oil (FO), as per the Economic Merit Order, which would lead to higher consumer tariff and enhance burden on exchequer by around Rs 10 billion during the Outage Period (impact of around Rs 3.5/kWh) or carry out additional load-shed of around 2-3 hours to meet the demand-supply position,” Moonis Alvi argued.

K-Electric which is already facing protests within the city and criticism during public hearings of FCA and QTA at NEPRA, has also highlighted that the incremental load-shed to manage the demand-supply position amidst rising temperatures may result in hue and cry from the consumers, thus adversely impacting smooth business operations as well.

“We request for extended support from GoP and would be grateful if Minister for Energy office requests the concerned authorities to provide KE with additional 60 MMCFD gas at adequate pressure during the Jhimpir outage period enabling KE to bridge the gap for serving power requirement of Karachi through increased utilization of KE’s power plants, “ Moonis said adding that this would enable the power utility company to provide cheaper power to KE consumers as well as mitigate the requirement of additional load-shed in KE’s territory.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023