ISLAMABAD: The Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) said on Thursday more than 7,500 megawatts of private power projects will be added to the national grid in 2017-18.

At the same time, however, the private sector has been involved in the transmission segment and will complete the first transmission line by the end of 2019.

In a statement, the PPIB said it is currently facilitating a total of 31 independent power projects (IPPs) of more than 19,000MW based on hydro, R-LNG and coal fuels. This mix is expected to balance energy costs and fulfil future electricity requirements at an affordable tariff.

It said the energy mix is based on a balanced strategy of hiring diversified sources of energy to ensure maximum use of clean indigenous resources by prioritising hydropower and promoting coal-based power generation as a reliable base-load solution.

The PPIB said it has issued letters of intent (LoIs) to 25 power projects of more than 17,000MW, out of which 19 sponsors have been issued letters of support (LoSs) of around 15,000MW capacity. Of them, nine projects of about 8,600MW have achieved financial close since 2014.

As a one-window agency of the government for private-sector investment in the power sector, the PPIB is a frontline agency responsible for the implementation of the flagship China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative through processing a major chunk of power generation projects of more than 10,000MW and transmission line projects under the CPEC framework. This has led to a major breakthrough in power generation in the shape of Thar coal utilisation, it said.

It said it has taken a lead role in the national challenge to eliminate loadshedding. It has been able to push through the implementation process that will result in the completion of power projects well in time and “more than 7,500MW will be added to the national grid in 2017-18”, it said.

The PPIB conceded that these upcoming megawatts will now necessitate a vibrant and modern transmission network. “However, due to financial constraints in the public sector, for the first time the private sector has been invited for developing the transmission network.”

Therefore, the PPIB is following up with the 878-kilometre-long Matiari-Lahore transmission line project to evacuate power from the upcoming coal power projects being established in the southern parts of the country.

“LoI has also been issued to this mega project, which is targeted to be completed by the end of 2019,” it said.

Giving details of the projects having achieved financial close, the PPIB said construction started on 147MW Patrind, 720MW Karot, 102MW Gulpur and 870MW Sukki Kinari hydropower projects. Coal-based projects include the 1,320MW plant in Qadarabad, 1,320MW in Sahiwal, 1,320MW at Port Qasim, 330MW at Hub and 660MW at Thar Block II.

Similarly three R-LNG-based projects under advance stages of construction included 1,180MW at Bhikki, 1,223MW at Balloki and 1,230MW at Haveli Bahadur Shah.

Before this, the PPIB was able to complete 31 power projects of more than 9,000MW, accounting for almost 48 per cent of the total power generation. This has materialised around $10 billion of foreign investment since 1994 from United States, United Kingdom, China, Germany, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan and United Arab Emirates.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2017