The Jamshoro Thermal Power Plant which was made functional two weeks ago to overcome the electricity shortfall in the country has been shut down again due to the shortage of furnace oil.
An official at the power plant said that the Japanese unit-I and Chinese units-II and IV had started producing electricity after remaining dysfunctional for most of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) tenure.
He said that the PTI government kept the thermal power plant closed for a long time and purchased electricity from Independent Power Producers (IPPs). The process of activating power generation was started on 29 March after a shortfall in the system was reported.
“The Ministry of Energy had been pressing for closure of all these power plants. But then suddenly, the shortfall was reported in the system and the same plants were revived again to contribute power to the national grid,” he said.
According to him, these units were supplying 355 megawatts of electricity to the national grid. However, the supply of oil was suddenly stopped by the Pakistan State Oil (PSO) due to which all three units had to be shut down again.
It is to be noted that the electricity shortfall across the country has reached 6,000 MW due to which several areas of Sindh, including Hyderabad, are facing 14 to 18 hours of load-shedding.