5
KARACHI: KESC announced Saturday that it has successfully test fired on gas, the second gas turbine of its flagship 560 MW BQPS-II power project.
The base load test also went as per the plan, paving the way for a series of other tests. After the successful synchronization of the first of the three turbines of the Bin Qasim Power Station-II in June, this is yet another major milestone achieved well within stipulated time, a KESC release said.
Meanwhile, the first gas turbine has also successfully completed the critical load rejection test and it is now ready for the reliability and performance test runs.
To sustain the operations of this state of the art and highly efficient plant, BQ-2 requires a steady quota of 130 MMCFD gas, as earlier agreed and committed to KESC.
Each of the three turbines will add approximately 115 MW to the KESC grid, which will cumulatively pool in 345 MW to KESC's own generation capability. While these machines will operate in an open cycle mode for now, addition of a steam turbine in the first quarter of 2012 will mark the completion of the entire project with a total of 560 MW capacity operating in combined cycle mode.
The overall thermal efficiency of the station will be amongst the highest in the region for a project of this magnitude.
The BQPS-II is one of the largest under construction private power plants in Pakistan, designed using proven energy efficient technology. The turbo machinery for this plant has been procured from GE (France) and Harbin Power Engineering (China).
In addition to the BQPS II project, the present management has already completed three separate projects that have enabled addition of 450 MW capacity to the grid; The 220 MW CCPP Korangi was inaugurated by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in 2010 and two gas engine based plants of 90mw each at KGTPS and SGTPS. Beyond capacity addition, major overhauls and comprehensive maintenance plans of the six generation units at Bin Qasim Power Station have brought in more than 50 additional megawatts to KESC's existing generation capacity.
This state of the art project is based on a massive $450 Million investment, which has been financed through multi-lateral funding partnered through international financial institutions namely, Asian Development Bank (ADB), International Finance Corporation (IFC), and a syndicate of Pakistani banks comprising of National Bank of Pakistan, Habib Bank Limited and Standard Chartered Bank.
