The Karachi Electric Supply Company has contradicted reports of any fault in the gas compressor of 220-megawatt Combined Cycle Power Plant (CCPP) at Korangi, which had already resumed power generation, says a press release issued here on Saturday.
While referring to a report in Daily Business Recorder on March 6, titled: "Gas compressor fault forces closure of 220MW plant;" the press release said that the contents of the report were based on unconfirmed and unsubstantiated information. As a matter of fact, no fault had occurred in the gas compressor of the CCPP, which reflected from the actuality that just after a few hours of its shut down due to low gas pressure, it had been put to generation again by diverting gas supply from KESC's Bin Qasim Power Station.
This step, the press release continued, had been taken for the very reason that the CCPP is the best power plant when it comes to output efficiency. On the other hand, the release stated, this was also incorrect to say that there had been no cut in the gas supply, as mentioned in the said news item.
The gas level had been curtailed drastically even before summer had ended, and had not been restored in spite of KESC's persistent demands. During winters, the gas supply had dropped to less than half of the approved quota of 276 MMCFD, but on Friday it was as low as less than 100 MMCFD, which caused shut down of CCPP. All claims to the contrary were baseless, it added.
The press release further clarified that currently the KESC had not been facing shortfall of 300 MWs as claimed by the said news item. The recurring shortfall which had been causing fixed load shed schedule to take place was less than 150 MWs, the press release added.-PR