KARACHI: Chief Executive Officer of K-Electric, Monis Alvi has said that 250-megawatt electricity from Bin Qasim Power Plant will be inducted into the national grid this year.
Addressing a Press conference in Karachi, he said that K-Electric and National Transmission & Dispatch Company teams are working jointly. He said that the government has installed the plant of gas for K-Electric and the government has promised to install a new terminal and provision of gas till 2025.
He said that K-Electric’s flagship 900-MW power plant, BQPS-III is progressing at fast track and the gas turbine, generator and heat recovery boiler for the first unit of 450-MW has arrived at the power utility’s Bin Qasim Power Complex. Steam turbine and transformers for the first unit are on the way to the site. All relevant civil works are progressing swiftly for the installation with the target of ensuring that the first unit is ready to be commissioned by the summer of 2021, and the second unit of 450-MW by the end of the year, Alvi said.
The RLNG-based power plant will go a long way in meeting Karachi’s power demand and ensuring the city and its industries stay energized to play their due role in the national economy. The addition of the 900-MW RLNG power plant will increase the power utility’s generation capacity, efficiency, and reliability.
He said that National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has also recently approved the modification in the generation licence of K-Electric, with the addition of the 900-MW RLNG powered BQPS-III to the power utility’s generation capacity. The power plant is being built as per the power utility’s business plan, approved under the Multi Year Tariff for the control period 2017-2023.
The K-Electric CEO said the project is a major private sector investment in the country’s power sector. “In addition to bridging the demand for electricity, this plant will also enable us to gradually phase out some units of the aging and less efficient BQPS-I plant, which has been in service for more than 30 years,” he said.
He further said that BQPS-III would result in lower import costs for the government, affordable power for consumers and a much smaller carbon footprint as compared to furnace oil power plants, and K-Electric is committed to commissioning the project as per planned timelines. “I am confident that we will continue to have the support of the government and other stakeholders since there is no doubt that the upcoming 900MW RLNG power plant is very crucial for Karachi,” he added. – TLTP