The incompetent exploits of the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) have been laid bare by a special visit report published by Nepra. This column has mentioned some of the salient findings of the report but some issues beg further attention.
The regulator has stressed upon the need to discourage the practice of extending the due date of commission of projects that hold national interest. One instance of major negligence is the absence of power evacuation from the Uch II power plant, which came online in April 2014. It has still not been provided a proper grid connection more than two years after its commercial operations date (COD). For people not aware of the power sector dynamics, NTDC is mandated to complete the power evacuation arrangement before the COD.
Nepra notes in its report that due to lack of transmission lines almost 375MW of power goes to waste, especially in the winter season. At times, Uch-II power plant has to be shut down or operated below rated capacity due to system constraints of NTDC. The closure of the power plant for one hour causes a loss of Rs1.5 million and the loss to the national kitty during FY15 was a staggering Rs6.5 billion, with over a hundred thousand consumers being affected.
Another shocking case mentioned in the report is the power evacuation from the 747 MW Guddu power plant, which was commissioned in 2014. NTDC is providing an unacceptable interim arrangement for transmission to the plant and if any fault arises in this arrangement, output of a 747MW will go to waste as the plant will have to be closed.
Then there is the host of wind power plants that have been delayed purely because they have not been given power evacuation arrangement. Nepra has highlighted that by the end of this year almost 1500MW of wind power is expected into the network. Wind power plants of 480MW were expected to be commissioned by July 2016 but completion of power evacuation arrangements for these power plants was delayed by almost six months.
Other issues of significance mentioned by the report are the establishment of a mechanism to assess the monetary losses incurred due to the faults present in the 220kV and 550kV networks. There are five 220kV transmission lines that are overloaded. And to top it, all of the metering system at the Common Delivery Points (CDPs) is not fully secured.
After going through the report one’s belief in the notion that privatisation is the only option left for PSE’s is only strengthened.
The NTDC has become a white elephant and the power sector of the country is paying for it dearly.
