Uch, Guddu plants likely to become operational by May

Ministry of Water and Power and its attached departments are working day and night to bring gas fired Uch II 404 MW and 747 MW Guddu thermal power plants online by May 2014 to help ease power outages in hot months, well informed sources told Business Recorder.
Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB), headed by Noor-ul-Islam Zuberi, is actively working on 404 MW Uch-II, near Dera Murad Jamali (Balochistan) to start commercial operations by the end of current month.
The sources said, testing of first unit of 263 MW of 747 MW combined cycle power plant at Guddu has commenced by the E&P contractors. "We hope first unit will start commercial operation during the first week of current month, whereas, other two units will be a similar job in April and May 2014," said an official on condition of anonymity.
According to sources, initially the most modern plant will operate on simple cycle; however, work will continue side by side to convert it on combined cycle.
The government is also expecting that 425 MW Nandipur thermal power plant will also commence commercial operations in May 2014. This implies the government will be able to add more than 1500 MW electricity to the national grid before June 2014.
Nandipur Power Project is an under construction combined cycle thermal power plant located at Nandipur near Gujranwala. Being constructed by the China Dongfang Electric Corporation, the project is estimated to be completed by December 2014. Upon completion, the project will generate 425 MW of electricity. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 57.38 billion ($574 million).
The sources said, Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif will perform the ground breaking ceremonies of these projects.
The sources said current round of three rehabilitations will be completed by end-March 2014, which are expected to recover 500 MW of capacity and increase efficiency by 1-2 percent. Moreover, to enhance clean energy supply, the government will continue with the development of hydropower projects-the cheapest source of supply.
According to Nepra the country is losing up to three per cent of its GDP because of power shortages which may increase if this trend persists.