RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) delegation led by its chairman Tauseef Farooqi, visited K-Electric’s (KE) 560 MW Bin Qasim Power Plant (BQPS) – II and also reviewed the development work at the adjacent 900 MW RLNG-fired Bin Qasim Power Plant (BQPS) – III.
As per KE officials, the delegation included vice chairman and member Punjab Saif Ullah Chattha, member Sindh Rafique Ahmad Shaikh, member Balochistan Rehmatullah Baloch, member KP Engr Bahadur Shah, and CSR head Huma Zafar.
The combined cycle-power BQPS-III power plant will add much needed capacity to Karachi’s generation capability and will have a substantial positive impact on the fleet efficiency of KE. The NEPRA delegation was informed about KE’s efforts at more efficient power generation to reduce the carbon footprint as well as make power more affordable for consumers. The delegation was briefed about KE’s investment in the city’s power infrastructure as well as plans for the future, to ensure power demands were met going forward.
CEO K-Electric Moonis Abdullah Alvi, CFO Aamir Ghaziani, CDO Amer Zia, Chief Marketing and Communication Officer Sadia Dada, and other members of the KE leadership hosted the delegation.
The NEPRA delegation also visited Khokhrapar - Malir, and was given a briefing of the power utility’s efforts at electrification of underprivileged areas as part of its Project Sarbulandi which has been envisioned to reduce load-shed through conversion to theft-resistant Aerial Bundled Cable (ABC). In last six months the power utility has been able to bring down Aggregate Technical & Commercial Losses in two localities of Malir – Muslimabad and Sohail Town with a combined population of around 200,000 – by an average of 15% resulting in a corresponding drop in load-shed, reflecting what has been achieved in other areas by Project Sarbulandi as well, the power company officials claimed.
Moonis Alvi talked about KE’s $1.5 billion investment plan in the next 3 years, sharing that the first unit of BQPS-III is expected to commence operations by summer 2021, “While KE has a committed investment plan to power Karachi, we are also working closely with all government bodies to materialize the off-take of additional power from the national grid and ensure sustainable growth of power supply in line with Karachi’s growing power demand. We look forward to the completion of all necessary agreements such as PPAs and GSAs along with upgrades to interconnection facilities so that Karachi is able to benefit from this power as per the planned timelines.”
