USAID to give $16.5 million for Tarbela Power Station, National Assembly told

Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Thursday informed the National Assembly that the USAID has agreed to provide financial assistance to the tune of $16.5 million to support the repair and maintenance through procurement of generator winding material and other essential spare parts for running the Tarbela Power Station to its rated capacity.
In a written reply to the house, he said that financial assistance from USAID is not a loan but a grant. The payment will be made to the Wapda by the Fixed Amount Reimbursement (FAR) method ie Wapda will first spend the money and the same shall be reimbursed by USAID.
To another question, he said that Alternative Energy Development Board did not implement any power project. By design the Board is a facilitator for the investors interested in setting up IPPs type projects. Alternative Energy Development Board is actively pursuing the development of wind and solar energy power generation with the participation of private sector.
Currently, 18 wind power IPPs of 50 MW project each are in different stages of project implementation. In addition there are a number of small and standalone wind projects operative in Pakistan. A 125 kW wind turbines has been installed by an industry in Landhi, Karachi which is supplying energy to KESC on net metering basis. M/s Sunnec Wind Power Generation Ltd of China has installed 50 kW wind turbines at Kallarkahar which are supplying electricity to the National Grid. No grid connected solar energy power project has been completed by any IPP so far. However, under the village electrification programme, AEDB has electrified more than 4000 homes in Tharparkar District and other areas of the country through solar energy.
So far, 6.175 MW of wind energy has been installed in the country at various locations, which are providing electricity directly to the National Grid. Responding to a question, he said government had arranged Third Party Audit of Proposed Rental Power Plants through the Asian Development Bank. Asian Development Bank has submitted Audit Report in January 2010.
Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) invited and processed Rental Power proposals through ICB and after issuance of the LOAs the Rental Services Contracts were signed by respective Generation Companies prior to said validation. The advance payment has been made to eight of the sponsors after obtaining the acquired Advance Payment Guarantee (APGs).
Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said that during the year 2008-09, 82688 million units were generated out of which 113.18 million of units were generated through coal. As such the ratio of electricity generated through coal is equal to 0.136 percent.
In order to enhance the capacity of generation through indigenous coal. Pepco has signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 6th March 2010 with Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company Limited (SECMC) for detailed feasibility study (DFS) in Thar Coal Block-II for the availability of coal to cater the needs of two power plants.
He said M/s Bergamo Holding of US has been approaching AEDB for many months for issuance of an LoI Solar Energy Project(s). However, as Bergamo has not fulfilled the conditions of the LoI specified in the published RE Policy 2006, they have not been issued any LoI from AEDB to date. LoI will be issued only when the requirements have been completed to the satisfaction of AEDB. No details of project cost have been provided by the company so far.
The project cost would be determined once the feasibility study is completed by the company. The per unit rate of electricity would be determined by Nepra once the feasibility study is completed and company applies for tariff, he added.