1,263 MW plant completes final tests before operationalization

The 1236 MW thermal power plant located at Jhang has successfully completed the 7-day long reliability test run of the first unit. The 400MW Gas Turbine 1 (GT1) will start commercial operations on July 6 after some heat and cooling-related tests on stopped machines. The test has been carried out by China Machinery Engineering Corp. (CMEC).

The plant also successfully went through the initial capacity test and achieved 403 MWs capacity against a guarantee of 400MW. The unit has already been connected to the national grid. The CMEC is engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor of the combined-cycle power plant owned by Punjab Thermal Power Ltd. (PTPL).

The PTPL has signed a 12-year operations and maintenance contract with China’s Harbin Electric Int’l for running the facility. According to sources the second gas turbine (GT2) is also undergoing various tests and is expected to achieve commercial operations date (COD) in a month. Also, the steam turbine (third unit of the plant) has been installed and is expected to start commercial operations in five to six months after going through different complicated tests and chemical cleaning procedures.

The plant has two gas and one steam turbines as well as two heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) for enhanced efficiency. The plant will use Re-liquified Natural Gas (R-LNG) as primary fuel while High Speed Diesel as backup fuel.