ZAHEER ABBASI

ISLAMABAD. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has approved Rs 5.6 billion power sector project aimed at conversion of existing 220kV substations at Kala Shah Kaku, Ravi and Naseerabad Bund Road from air insulated to gas insulated.

On a proposal of the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms to a meeting of the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar gave approval to the project, which would be executed by the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC).

A copy of the summary approved in the last ECNEC meeting and available with Business Recorder states that the objective of the project is to replace the existing 220kV sub-stations at Bund Road, Kala Shah Kaku, Ravi and Nishatabad from air insulated substations (AIS) to gas insulated substations (GIS).

The finance minister was informed that the aging factor as well as industrial pollution surrounding these substations make the AIS weaker and led to their deterioration. Their conversion in the GIS substations will improve their efficiency as well as reliability with result in reduction of erosion and deterioration. This will also reduce their maintenance costs and frequent trappings and power flow will also increase by 684MW in the system.

The meeting was further told that the transmission system of the country is overloaded and not capable to cope with the increasing power demand. In near future considerable addition to the system would result in frequent tripping and breakdowns. Resultantly, enhancement in transmission and transformation capacity of NTDC system is required.

The power sector’s strategy is to provide reliable, uninterrupted power to its consumers. Keeping in view the present overloaded system and increasing availability of additional power generation capacity in near future coupled with hefty power demand. The strategy has been adopted to strengthen and enhance the capacity of transmission system.

The equipment at AIS/ grid stations have deteriorated because of 30-40 years aging and pollutants in surrounding areas, such as air pollutants from waste water drains and chemical industries. Conversions of these from AIS to GIS will improve efficiency and reliability. This will result in reduction of erosion and deterioration of vital substation equipment, besides, cutting down maintenance costs.

In the light of CDWP compliance, the sponsors have assured that the project would be completed by June 2018.