Report by Engineering Post
The Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) was created way back in 1994 as a One Window Facilitator on behalf of the federal Government for promoting private investment in the power sector. It was given statutory status in 2012 through an Act of the Parliament namely PPIB Act 2012 empowering the PPIB to facilitate certain public sector power and related infrastructure projects in the Private Power Project (IPP) mode.
PPIB approves IPPs, issues Letters of Intent (LOI) and Letters of Support (LOSs) including Tripartite LOSs, approves feasibility studies, executes Implementation Agreements (IAs), provides the Federal Government
guarantees, and formulates regulations related to power generation and transmission lines. In order to create synergy in the power sector, the Alternative energy development Board (AEDB),with a similar mandate, has also been merged into PPIB in June 2023.
So far, PPIB has successfully managed the development of 100 IPPs with a capacity of about 24,958 MW, more than half of the country’s total installed capacity, attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of over US $ 33 billion. In addition to the commissioning of 100 IPPs, another five multiple fuel-based IPPs of 1066 MW were at their advanced stage of construction and expected to be completed during the ongoing financial year 224-25. These initiatives help in boosting the country’s economic development, employment, and livelihoods by generating much-needed electricity.
PPIB was promoting Thar coal and hydel resources for generating cheaper electricity and accelerating hudel and Thar coal-based power generation projects. The portfolio of upcoming power generation projects, currently being processed by PPIB , comprises 24 projects of 7460 MW and were at different stages of their completion. The federal government duly understands the adverse impact of climate change , thus all these projects, including coal, do meet the World Bank/ international Finance Corporation’s environmental standards.
Under the short-term targets, apart from opening new landscapes in Thar Coal and Hydel power generation in accordance with the power demand-supply scenario under the Integrated Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP) 2022 and policies in vogue, PPIB was striving to compete 12 ongoing IPPs of 1563 MW during 2024-26.
PPIB was actively processing a diversified portfolio of IPPs (Wind/Solar/Hyde l/Bagasse/Coal and Gas) under the provisions of Power Generation Policy 2015, Alternative and renewable Energy (ARE) Policy 2019, and under National Electricity Policy 2021 , PPIB was reported to have achieved significant accomplishment for the implementation of various advanced stages.
For the promotion of local resources for power generation, PPIB has also imposed a moratorium on the processing of new imported fuels-based power projects since 2016. Further, due to the increased price of imported coal in the international , the Federal Government has also undertaken the initiative to substitute the imported coal-based IPPs to Thar coal, which was abundantly available.
In this regard, a feasibility study has been conducted to convert imported coal-based IPPs to Thar coal. Efforts were also underway to start the blending of Thar Coal by three three imported coal IPPs with a cumulative capacity of 3860 MW , including 1320 MW Sahiwal Coal Power Project, 1320 MW Port Qasim Coal Power Project, and 1320 MW hub Coal Power Project .
These initiatives will quite expectedly and hopefully reduce electricity generation costs, lower tariffs, and save valuable foreign exchange.
