October 31, 2007	Wednesday	Shawwal 18, 1428

LAHORE, Oct 30: Power shortage in the country dropped down to 1,700WM from over 2,000MW a day earlier as the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) got additional water releases from Tarbela and Mangla dams and gas supplies restored to some power generation units.

According to Wapda officials, power shortage had gone well beyond 2,000MW on Monday when a blast interrupted gas supplies to Uch Power Plant and water releases went down to minimum because of canal closure in Punjab.

Both these factors had been dealt with, and situation improved a bit, they said. On Tuesday, hydel peak power generation went up to 5,000MW — 3,300MW from Tarbela dam, 1,000MW from Ghazi Brotha Hydel Power (GBHP) and 7,000MW from the Mangla dam.

Power generation from Wapda’s own thermal units has been hovering around 2,700MW and the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) are contributing another 3,500MW. This took total peak supply just above 11,000MW and demand just under 1,3000MW — leaving a peak gap of 1,700MW, they said.

The Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) has been sharing the load with all distribution companies, with Lahore taking a hit of 21 per cent, Faisalabad 12 per cent and Gujranwala nine per cent. The distribution companies are entitled to carry out internal management as per their own requirements.

Meanwhile, according to a Pepco press release, most of the IPPs on scheduled shutdowns, have been brought back on bar late last night. Along with the Uch of 570MW, 300MW PAEC Chashnup power station, which remained off, are back in operation. Similarly, 180MW thermal unit at TPS Muzaffargarh has started generation after remaining on a scheduled shutdown.

Additionally, the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) has increased the out flows from Mangla and Tarbela reservoirs because of which hydel generation from these stations has also increased to some extent.

It was also informed that the 1,538MW Kapco power plant had started receiving gas, which had earlier been curtailed. This help from SNGPL would further ease the situation.

A Pepco official said it was essential that gas supplies remained uninterrupted as oil stocks were low, especially with IPPs like Kapco. “The ship carrying oil for Kapco will dock on Nov 5, and it will take another five days to supply the fuel to Kot Addu. During this time, things can go wrong if something happens to the gas supply. The Pepco has taken up the matter of oil stocks, but it will not change the ground realities,” he added.

He said there was no loadshedding on Tuesday during the day and even late afternoon was seen off with a minor load management.