LAHORE: Friday witnessed what the power sector managers called “electricity emergency” in the country when total generation dropped to 6,300MW against a national demand of about 14,000MW, or a shortfall of 60 per cent, and the National Power Control Centre (NPCC) had to shut down even grid stations at the mass level.

The disastrous blow to the system, which was barely surviving furnace oil shortage and canal closure, was delivered when saboteurs blew up an 18-inch gas pipeline near Dera Murad Jamali, taking both Uch-I (500MW) and Uch-II (300MW) off the system and widening the power deficit by another 800MW.

Know more: Miscreants blow up gas pipelines in two Balochistan districts

The severe furnace oil shortage has already reduced the output of public sector generation companies to mere 700MW from 2,000MW.

Major production plants — Muzaffargarh, Kapco and Jamshoro — are running only at 30pc of their capacity because of oil squeeze. “One can imagine the generation crisis from Kot Addu Power Plant which is producing only 475MW against total capacity of over 1,300MW,” says an official at the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC).

Balancing the system was a tightrope walk for the entire day as the NPCC had to continuously juggle the generation around: switching off grid stations, not feeders. Only Lahore saw as many as 14 grid stations shut down at one point of time. The official said it was an emergency situation where everyone forgot delivering service to people and concentrated on saving the system.

“Although the water and power ministry is spiritedly denying any furnace oil squeeze, it failed to explain 1,200MW reduction in generation,” said a former head of the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco).

The generation last year was around 8,500MW, but this year it was around 7,300MW when the gas pipeline blast switched off both Uch stations and took a toll of another 900MW.

Generation drops to 6,300MW after gas pipeline blown up

The difference of 1,200MW was created by the furnace oil crisis, despite the ministry’s denial. The system is saved because Hubco is still working and both AES (Lal Pir and Pakgen) plants came back over the past three days, jacking up the system by around 500MW. Otherwise, it could have been a disaster in the country, the former Pepco head said.

“Hiding behind the canal closure for the generation decline is dishonest on part of the water and power ministry because it is a planned closure that happens every year and brings hydel generation down to 700 to 800MW,” says a Pepco official.

The situation is the same this year as well, as the hydel generation is hovering around the same figure. Since it is planned, it has to factor in the planning. The ministry should have planned additional generation to compensate hydel component, rather than using it as an excuse to explain the current crisis. The current crisis is much bigger than mere the hydel factor can explain.

“The ministry is there for planning, and not to explain reasons for the reduction,” the official said. He warned: “If, God forbid, one more plant goes off for any reason, everything will collapse.”

The crisis also stoked off social unrest, especially from industrial consumers. In Lahore, the factory owners of Quaid Azam Indusrial Park took out a rally, condemning the unscheduled closure that continued for hours.

Published in Dawn January 24th , 2015

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