Gas supply to Wapda's thermal powerhouses reduced substantially

Further short supply of gas to thermal powerhouses of Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) has reduced thermal electricity from 15,000 MW to 8530 MW, PEPCO spokesman Shafqat Jalil told Business Recorder here on Sunday.
He said the Gas utilities are providing only 212 MMFCD gas against 712 MMFCD needs of the thermal powerhouses across the country. " Owing to reduced supply of gas we are running almost all thermal power houses on oil to generate maximum electricity for meeting the shortfall created by closure of irrigation canals for a month", he added. Hydel Power generation has already been reduced from 64,000 MW to 2,616 after sharp drop in water discharges from Tarbela and Mangla reservoirs since 26th December 2010.
Elaborating the Sunday's power situation, he said PEPCO's national grid system received 9,721 MW electricity from its hydel, thermal, IPPs and RPP units against the demand of 12,216 MW. Hydel powerhouses at Tarbela, Ghazi Barotha, Mangla and Chashma generated 2,616, thermal powerhouses provided 853 MW, Independent Power Producers contributed 6,190 MW and Rental Power Plants produced nominal 62 MW electricity. PEPCO supplied 660 MW electricity to KESC.
Jalil said though WAPDA's own thermal powerhouses are producing about 600 MW less electricity than their previous day's output of 1431 MW, yet IPPs have increased their production to 6,190 MW from 5,696 MW to make up the losses.