LAHORE: Homes nationwide power outages on Wednesday amid a power shortage of over 3,000 megawatts in the country.

Sources in the National Transmission and Despatch Company said K-2 and K-3 nuclear power plants near Jamshoro — with a generation capacity of 1,200 MW each — were suspended due to a fault in the plants, resulting in a power shortage of 2,400 MW in the country.

A source said the plants could not be operated in an emergency because international experts would have to be called first to fix the problem. A team of international experts would fix the problem and the situation would become normal Thursday morning (today), he said.

Another source in the energy sector told Dawn that other power plants, including Kepco, Liberty, Engro, Thar Coal, Port Qasim, Sahiwal Coal and Guddu Thermal, were also not working on full capacity and there was another shortage of 500 to 600 MW.

The country’s power capacity was also lowered due to another reason — the non-availability of furnace oil and regasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) — and the country might have to face power outages in Ramazan, the sources said.

The plants were not being supplied RLNG according to their demand and the furnace oil position was also unsatisfactory.

The sources said electricity demand was already on the rise due to rising temperatures in summer, and a 2,400 MW shortage from K-2 and K-3 plants has aggravated the problem.

Meanwhile, Lahore also witnessed intermittent power shortages amid rising mercury on Wednesday.

The issue started early in the morning in different areas of the city, with many citizens complaining about power outage.

They asked the government to fix the electricity shortage issue before the holy month of Ramazan. A Lesco spokesperson said issues in power generation were creating a problem in allocation, but the matter would be resolved by Thursday morning.

The spokesperson said Lahore’s electricity use had increased to 3,500 MW

from 3,200 and there was a shortage of around 400 MW.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2022