Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Gets License for 50 MW Coal Power Plant

National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has granted Generation Licence to Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) for its 50 MW Coal Fired Plant thats located at KCP Complex, Jauharabad, District Khushab.

The Generation Licence No SGC/120/2017 was granted, pursuant to Section 15 of the Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power Act (XL of 1997).

Background

The power sector of the country is experiencing a huge supply-demand gap. Due to the shortage of electricity, power utilities are finding it hard to meet with the requirements of its consumers, especially industrial concerns.

In order to cope with the above mentioned situation, various industrial concerns are contemplating to set up power generation facilities using cheaper resources for supplying to their industrial concerns.

To meet the electricity requirement of its KCP complex located at Jauharabad, district Khushab in the province of Punjab, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) planned to set up a 50 MW indigenous coal based generation facility/Thermal Power Plant.

In accordance with Section-15 of Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power Act, 1997 (the “NEPRA Act”), read with the NEPRA Licensing (Application and Modification Procedure) Regulations, 1999 (the “Licensing Regulations”) PAEC submitted an application on August 29, 2016 requesting for the grant of generation licence.

Application Rejected Last Year

The matter was taken up in different regulatory meetings and the Authority rejected the application on December 06, 2016 due to its lower efficiency.

Being aggrieved with said decision of the Authority, PAEC filed for a motion of leave for review. The Authority considered the review application in its regulatory meeting held on January 18, 2017 and decided to admit the same. The Authority also decided to give an opportunity of hearing to PAEC in the matter.

Accordingly, the hearing was held on February 14, 2017 which was attended by the representatives/professionals of PAEC.

The representatives of PAEC gave a detailed presentation on the various aspects of the project and confirmed that the proposed generation facility is meant for captive use and only occasional surplus will be supplied to the utility on take and pay basis and there will be no liability on account of capacity payment for the utility.

NEPRA Approves The Application

Based on the proceedings of the hearing and other submitted information, the Authority re-considered the matter in its regulatory meeting held on March 07, 2017 and decided to admit the application for consideration of the grant of the generation licence as stipulated in Regulation-7 of the Licensing Regulations.

The Authority approved an advertisement to invite comments of general public, interested and affected persons in the matter as stipulated in Regulation-8 of the Licensing Regulations. Accordingly, notices were published in one (01) Urdu and one (01) English newspapers on March 23, 2017.

In addition to the above, the Authority also approved a list of stakeholders for seeking their comments for assistance of the Authority in the matter in terms of Regulation-9(2) of the Licensing Regulations. Accordingly, letters were sent to the said stakeholders on March 24, 2017, soliciting their comments for assistance of the Authority.

About The New Power Plant

PAEC is planning to set a 50 MW coal based generation facility/Thermal Power Plant within the premises of its complex at Jauharabad, district Khushab for which sufficient quantity of land is already available. The proposed generation facility will be consisting of two (02) Boilers (98 bar and 540°C), two (02) steam turbines and two (02) synchronous generator units.

The boilers will be fed using coal from the salt range mines which will be supplied and transported using trucks. In view of the size of the project and possible source of coal, PAEC has selected Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) coal boiler.

Below Standard Efficiency

The selected technology provides improved thermal efficiency and the excellent ability to burn a wide range of coal. The gross efficiency of the proposed generation facility/Thermal Power Plant will be around 31.25% whereas the net efficiency will be 28.00%.

The efficiency of the proposed generation facility/Thermal Power Plant is below the benchmark efficiency of 39% set up by the Authority in the case of upfront tariff determined by the Authority for coal power projects.

Mostly Captive Use

In this regard, the Authority has observed that a major portion of the electric power generated by PAEC is meant for captive use and only occasional surplus will be supplied to the utility/FESCO on take and pay basis and there will be no liability on account of capacity payment for the utility.

Therefore, it will not have any adverse impact on the end consumers.

The electric power generation facility/Thermal Power Plant of PAEC will be primarily used for its own use to the tune of 28 MW. The generation facility will be synchronized to the system of the concerned utility and surplus available from the generation facility will be fed to it.

12-18 MW Surplus Power

It is estimated that the generation facility will have a net output of 40 MW and therefore, around 12 MW will be available to the utility in summer whereas around 18  MW can be spared in winter season for the utility.

In this regard, GM (Planning) NTDC has carried out the Grid Interconnection Study (GIS) of the project and has confirmed that the surplus available from the generation facility/Thermal Power Plant can be fed to the utility through a 132 kV Double Circuit (D/C) transmission line (Measuring about 3-KM in length on ACSR Lynx Conductor) connecting the generation facility with existing ABC Girote grid station of FESCO.

It is pertinent to mention that FESCO through its letter dated May 31, 2017 has endorsed the GIS conducted by NTDC confirming that the proposed arrangement will not have any adverse impact on its system.