Wind Power Projects to begin supplying electricity to national grid
After months of nominal power generation, wind power projects (WPPs) in Pakistan are expected to start dispatching electricity to the national grid in the next 10 days. The Pakistan Wind Energy Association Chairman, Rumman Arshad Dar, said that all 36 WPPs will become operational, although they are unlikely to be dispatched at 100% capacity. Currently, transmission lines from these projects in Jhimpir and Gharo areas of Sindh to the national grid are choked, leading to a violation of the Policy for Development of Renewable Energy for Power Generation 2006.
The glut of power generation in the South region has created bottlenecks in transmitting electricity to the North region, leading to delays in the dispatching of WPPs. Newly installed capacity in recent years, from wind and coal to nuclear, is based in the South region, leading to “choking” of the transmission network. Wind power capacity has a share of 4.5% in the installed capacity but only 2.5% in the national energy mix as of December 2022.
To resolve the issue of curtailment faced by WPPs, the Pakistan Wind Energy Association plans to meet with the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority and the National Power Control Centre in the second half of March to develop a long-term solution. In the meantime, the NPCC will start dispatching WPPs in 10 or so days. NPCC has demanded wind forecasts to enable it to plan ahead and curtail non-renewable plants when there is wind. The pace of construction work on transmission lines slowed down due to various reasons, including a rapid rise in the prices of cement and steel, nationwide floods, and complications arising out of the right-of-way issues.