ISLAMABAD: Minister for Power Division Engineer Khurram Dastgir said on Wednesday that all required arrangements have been made to deal with the potential impacts of Cyclone Biparjoy in the country’s coastal areas.
During a press conference today, the minister said that the cyclone had caused no power outages in the country. However, he said they were perfectly prepared to deal with the cyclone’s effects. He said that in the days following the flash flood last year, their teams at National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) worked admirably and restored the power transmission system throughout Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan in record time.
Cyclone Biparjoy has affected the R-LNG supply
According to the minister, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif presided over a high-level meeting yesterday and made several decisions. The minister was leaving for Karachi in the evening with Secretary Power Division to personally oversee the situation. He further said that three top ministry officials have been deputed to manage the operation, one in Mirpur Khas, one in Karachi, and one in Hyderabad. According to the minister, Cyclone Biparjoy has affected the R-LNG supply, resulting in a temporary reduction in RLNG-based power generation and an increase in load-shedding.
He added that five power distribution companies, including Gujranwala Electric Supply Company (GEPCO), Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO), Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO), Multan Electric Power Company (MEPCO), and Sukkur Electric Power Company (SEPCO), have been activated to assist Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) in the case of a power outage. On the Prime Minister’s orders, 2000 employees from the previously mentioned DISCOs were dispatched to the coastal areas to assist HESCO with power supply restoration in the case of a power outage.
Khurram said that shipping to the Port Qasim RLNG terminals has stopped, resulting in the suspension of gas to the K-Electric, Bahadur Shah, and Bikki Power Plants. According to him, consumers may face an additional hour of power load management for the next four days (June 15-18, or 96 hours). He added that the water discharge from the Tarbela dam has been increased in order to create more electricity. He said that power plants that use expensive fuel can also be run if necessary.
In response to a question, the minister said that there has been no major disruption from coal-fired power plants thus far. He did, however, warn that the cyclone could disrupt the power transmission system in coastal areas. He said the government has shifted gas to power plants and K-Electric in order to reduce the possibility of a power outage. In response to another question, he said that maximum power load-shedding was carried out in urban areas for two to four hours based on losses. He said that 5000 megawatts of electricity had been added to the system as a result of several projects such as Thar coal, K-3 Nuclear, and Hydel.
