PC proposes construction of four nuclear power plants

[LahoreEstate]

Wapda power generation for 2007-08 was 56 per cent of its capacity which shows that capacity is not the issue. - APP/File photo.

ISLAMABAD: The Planning Commission (PC) has proposed the construction of four nuclear power plants in Karachi and Guddu areas of Sindh along the lines of Chashma Nuclear Power Plant and asked the government to seek help from China for these projects.

The construction of Chashma plant-1 had started in 1992 with the help of Chinese government. The plant started commercial operation in 2000. The two-loop plant has a gross output of 325 megawatts (MW) and a life span of 40 years. The groundbreaking ceremony of the Chashma plant-2 was held in April 2005.

The PC is of the view that Chashma plant should be adopted as the ‘standard’ unit and four more nuclear power plants should be built to diversify the power generation sources of the country.

The commission has also informed Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani that Pakistan was well-placed to generate additional 17,140 megawatts (MW) of electricity in the next five years if decision making process is improved.

An official document of PC suggests that the country would have never faced the current load-shedding crisis had the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) utilised their existing power capacity in a better way.

The PC has noted with concern that Wapda/NTDC power generation remained at 54 per cent of its capacity in 2005-06. They slightly increased their generation by utilising 57 per cent capacity in 2006-07, but last year (2007-08) both the bodies did not improve their generation but rather dropped it to 56 per cent of its capacity.

‘There is no need to improve the capacity factor. Incentive bonus related to production is one of the solutions,’ states an official document of PC which has been shared with the prime minister.

The Wapda/NTDC has 14 hydel plants with the capacity of 6,444 MW, but they are generating only 51 per cent of their capacity.

Seventeen independent power producers which can generate 5,923MW utilise only 64 per cent of their capacity.

The situation of the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) is even worse: the company generates less than half of its capacity of 4,779MW.

The commission says that the sole nuclear power plant (Chashma) is operational and generates 86 per cent of its capacity of 325MW.

The commission has proposed that the Thar Coal Open Test Pit Project, which has already been approved by the Central Developmental Working Party (CDWP) in March last year, should be revived and expedited.

The PC has also stressed the need for expediting construction of the two imported coal based power plants at Khalifa Point coast in Balochistan.

The commission recommended installation of a 1,200MW imported coal based power station at Port Qasim under public-private partnership and expedite wind, solar, geometrical and other alternate energy sources.

http://dawn.net/wps/wcm/connect/Dawn%20C...plants--za