LAHORE: The media hype created after the premature inauguration of 425MW Nandipur Thermal Power Plant forced the government on Friday to ask the NTDC to press the plant into power generation. According to reports, one of its installed units started generation and was contributing 98MW to the system.

Sources in the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) said that the plant also generated around 95MW on Thursday during peak hours but from now onwards it would hopefully be kept into generation as long as government paid for diesel.

Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali visited the plant on Wednesday and convinced the management to start generation, said an NTDC official.

Nandipur plant was operational only for five days

Though the plant managers were reluctant to run the plant because of inherent risks for prolonged operation on diesel instead of furnace oil, the ministry was determined; even at the risk of additional wear and tear of the plant and other potential damage, the official added. The minister was briefed on possible risks of pressing the plant into generation prematurely and also the timeline that it required for normal operation, but he did not appreciate any of the argument, said an official of Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco).

Even the humongous cost (more than Rs40 per unit, against the sale price of Rs14.70) that the operation would cost failed to become a deterrent.

The government would now be contributing more than Rs25 per unit from taxpayers’ money to keep the plant running. But it is still determined to do so even at technical and financial risks, he said.

Talking to Dawn, Chief Executive of the Nandipur Power Plant Mohammad Mahmood said that the plant had been contributing electricity for the past several days.

Though the turbine’s capacity is 95.6MW, its actual generation varies between 93MW and 106MW because of weather; in cool conditions, generation increases but it decreases in high temperatures.

On Friday morning, the plant was generating 103MW. The plant is now fully available, barring technical requirements for snapping operations.

“In fact, three more turbines have to be installed and all of them are part of an integrated plant. So is other accessories like the switchyard and fourth (gas-driven) turbine that would turn the plant into combined cycle generating unit. Thus the plant would have to be turned on and off in future for technical reasons, not the availability factor,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2014