The much talked-about Rental Power Plants (RPPs), which were touted as a short-term arrangement to bridge electricity demand-supply gap, are no longer considered a major policy option.
According to the daily power situation report prepared by the National Power Control Centre (NPCC), total power generation of the RPPs on June 25 was only 72 MW at a time when the power shortfall peaked to 5500 MW with people across the country protesting against the government''s failure to tackle the energy crisis third year running.
Official sources told Business Recorder that only three RPPs ie Karkay Rental Power Plant, Gulf Rental Power Plant and Naudero are supplying less than 100 MW power to NPCC. "Total contribution of Karkay, Gulf and Naudero is 34 MW, 62 MW and 10 MW respectively," the sources added. Total installed capacity of Karkay is 249 MW, Gulf 81 MW and Naudero 51 MW, which implies that the latter is the only RPP which is running at full capacity.
Reshma Power Plant, another IPP, intends to install turbines of 100 MW against 220 MW capacity mentioned in the agreement, which has evolved into a serious dispute between the buyer and the seller. In other words the project is still at zero stage until dispute is resolved. If the government alters the agreement, it will be considered a grave violation of PPRA Rules, commented one of the officials on condition of anonymity. According to him, the fate of Techno Rental Power Plant is also doubtful.
After the removal of Raja Pervez Ashraf, Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB), a subsidiary of Water and Power Ministry which initiated the RPPs on the directives of federal government, has removed the name of rental plants from its refurbished website. Now the PPIB''s thrust is on hydel, IPPs and coal power projects.
However, Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) which is scheduled to be dissolved by June 30, 2011 as announced in the federal budget, has posted the names of RPPs on its website with the slogan that "with the grace of Almighty Allah within a span of few months additional power of almost 3500 MW will be added in the Pepco distribution system. And Insha''Allah; this menace of loadshedding shall be uprooted from the country for ever".
Initially, the government had acquired eight RPPs as a short-term solution to energy crisis as per GoP/ECC decisions after third-party audit by the Asian Development Bank. Tariff of RPPs was very high and Faisal Saleh Hayat, now the Minister for Housing and Works, and Khawaja Muhammad Asif, a stalwart of Pakistan Muslim League (N) challenged RRPs in the Supreme Court. A couple of companies returned the amount of mobilisation advance with interest to the national exchequer on the directives of the apex court.