Engineering Post Report
The Government of Pakistan (GOP) had established way back in 1994 the Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) as a “One Window Facilitator’ to attract private power sector private investments in power generation, particularly in coal both imported and local, Re-gasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG), and hydel, based on state-of-the-art technologies and recently installed HVDC transmission line and have duly expanded and diversified the country’s power generation and transmission line infrastructure indecent years.
So far, two robust policy frameworks , Power Generation Policy 2015 and Policy Framework for Private Sector Transmission Line Projects 2015, have received an overwhelming market response and attracted many renowned local and foreign investors to the Pakistan power sector.
In 2012, the PPIB was granted a statutory status through the PPIB Act 2012. Subsequently, the PPIB Amendment Act 2016 authorized PPIB to facilitate certain public sector power and related infrastructure projects in Independent Power Project (IPP)mode, PPIB approves IPPs, issues Letters of Interests (LOIs) and LOSs (including Tripartite LOSs), approves feasibility studies , executes Implementation Agreements (IAs), provides GoP guarantees, and formulates regulations related to power generation and transmission lines
Till recently, PPIB had successfully managed to develop as many as 45 IPPd of about 20911 MW, more than half of the country’s installed capacity attracted foreign direct investment (FDI).of over US $ 25 billion. These initiatives have boosted economic development, employment, and livelihoods by generating much -needed electricity.
PPIB has also facilitated the country’s massive transmission line project, Lahore -Matiari, the first HVDC transmission line project created by the private sector. This project, worth US $ 1.65 billion of FDI shows PPIB’s crucial role in private sector resources mobilization for power sector transmission infrastructure projects.
PPIB was promoting indigenous Thar-coal and hydel resources to generate cheaper electricity and accelerating hydel and Thar-coal ased power generation projects.
PPIB was processing 16 power generation projects of over 8300 MW, 13 hydroelectric projects of 5455 MW, one RLNG-based project of 1320 MW and an imported coal-based project of 300 MW.
The government fully understands the adverse impacts of climate change, thus, all the projects including coal meet World Bank/International Finance Corporation’s environmental standard.
The federal government had in 2016 had placed a moratorium on further processing new imported fuel-based power generation projects except those the Board ad already approved to reduce dependence on imported fuels. A[part from opening new vistas of investment in Thar-coal and hydel power generation, following the power demand-supply scenario under the Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP) and the policies in vogue. , PPIB was endeavoring to complete three IPPs of 2154 MW during financial year
2023-24
Power production requires tariff determination, land purchase, generation license , environmental clearance, coal price and a number of other inter-dependent processes. Any dispute activity impacts the overall project implementation process, thus disturbing the project timelines. PPIB has promoted and implemented upcoming IPPs , although outside factors have hampered project companies/sponsors. These factors included but many of these may not be limited to COIVD-19, Sinosure and land purchase. In such situations, PPIB has been playing an important role in handling these problems with all stakeholders. Thus, 4 Thar coal and hydropower projects of 3600 MW were built in one year. Other projects include developmental activities during July-March FY2023.
According to the information available from the official sources concerned, the federal government was planning to convert all commissioned imported coal IPPs to Thar coal. Accordingly, a feasibility study was conducted under the direction of the Ministry of Energy (Power Division), which suggested starting on-site testing of 10 percent Thar coal blending with the imported coal As such, efforts have since been commenced to blend Thar coal with imported coal for Sahiwal, Port Qasim, and Hub coal projects having a total capacity of 3960 MW.
Some more information about PPIB projects held up for want of space and will be presented on these pages next month, please.
