INP-WealthPk

Pakistan’s Total Power Generation Capacity in 2021 Reached 39,772MW

April 12, 2022

By Ayesha Saba ISLAMABAD, April 12 (INP-WealthPK): The total installed generation capacity in the country (NTDC plus K-Electric) in Fiscal Year 2020-21 reached 39,772MW of which roughly 25% was from hydro-electric plants, 63% thermal plants (gas, coal, and RLNG), 6.7% nuclear, and 5.4% renewable-based plants (bagasse, solar, and wind), reports WealthPK. According to the State of Industry Report released by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), total dependable capacity was estimated to be 37,271MW or roughly 94% of the installed capacity. The maximum generation capability, due to operational limitations, was only around 31,243MW. As regards the distribution systems, during FY21, 10 power distribution companies (DISCOs) under the NTDC system had 29,495km 132-kV sub-transmission lines supported by 882 grid stations with a cumulative transformation capacity of 55, 063MVA and 349,193km 11-kV feeders with 803,883 distribution transformers with a cumulative capacity of 51,555MVA. The distribution networks of K-Electric comprised 833km 132kV lines supported by 69 grid stations with a cumulative transformation capacity of 6,457MVA and 10,283km 11-kV feeders with a cumulative capacity of 8,153MVA. The 10 distribution companies under the NTDC system served around 31.5 million consumers while K-Electric served around 3.2 million. In terms of distribution systems, the 10 distribution companies had 29,495km 132-kV sub-transmission lines supported by 882 grid stations with a combined transformation capacity of 55,063MVA, and 349, 193km 11-kV feeders with 803,883 distribution transformers with a combined capacity of 51,555MVA in FY21. K-Electric's distribution networks included 833 kilometres of 132-kV lines backed by 69 grid stations with a total transformation capacity of 6,457 MVA and 10,283 kilometres of 11-kV feeders with a total capacity of 8,153 MVA. The NTDC system's ten DISCOS catered to around 31.5 million customers, while K-Electric served approximately 3.2 million consumers. During FY21, electricity sales in the country by the 10 DISCOs and K-Electric totalled 121,206GWh of which 47% was consumed by domestic consumers, 7% by commercial consumers, 25% by industrial consumers, and the rest by a variety of other consumers. During FY21, a total of 5,348 villages were electrified, raising the total number of electrified villages in the NTDC system to 193,900, boosting the country's electrification rate to 84 percent. However, no new villages were electrified in the K-Electric system last year, keeping the system's electrification rate at 98 percent. In the DISCOs, 484,138 applications for grid connection under the NTDC system and 17,705 applications under the K-Electric system still await approval. The SIR21 also mentions that 2,500 to 3,000MW demand is lost on a daily basis for a variety of reasons. Circular debt in the power grid, in which the system losses and poor revenue recoveries figure prominently, increased to PKR2,280 billion in FY21 compared to PKR2,150 billion in FY20, representing a 6% increase. Targets for T&D loss reductions and receivable collections have been set by the NEPRA. Except for a very slight improvement in a few DISCOs, no progress has been made. T&D losses in the disco industry are stagnant at 17.95 percent. When transmission losses of 2.78 percent are included, the total is 20.73 percent. For the purpose of comparison, worldwide averages are around 5%. However, there are some outstanding performers, such as IESCO, which has the lowest loss rate of all at 8.54 percent, and FESCO, which has a loss rate of 9.28 percent. Over the previous seven years, KE losses have steadily decreased, from 20.9 percent to 15.36 percent now. The losses have a monetary worth of 91.5 billion rupees. Receivables have grown from Rs1,375 billion to Rs1,495 billion in 2019-20. (2020-21). The recovery ratio has improved from 88.77 percent to 97.30 percent, which is astonishingly better than the KE's recovery rate of 94.87 percent. The total amount of energy generated in the previous fiscal year (2020-21) was 143,090.64GWh, up 9363.44GWh from the previous year. This indicates an increase of 7%. It's excellent news. Despite several issues such as Covid-19 and inflation, it looks like economic growth is occurring.