KESC plans $400 million investment on power generation

• 12 years ago (2012-11-10)
• David Flin

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Pakistan power utility Karachi Electricity Supply Company (KESC) plans to invest about $400 million over the next two to three years to increase its generation capacity and upgrade generation fleet capacity. This investment is aimed at reducing power generation costs and building the requisite transmission capability to enable KESC to meet growing power demand within its service territory. The investment will be funded from money arranged from local and foreign institutions in the form of both debt and equity.

Tabish Gauhar, Chief Executive of KESC, said that Pakistan offers great potential, and highlighted the investments the firm has made despite a difficult operating environment. He said: “The new investment plan is just a reiteration of this belief and comes at a time when Pakistan is witnessing the dampening of investors’ sentiments, both local and foreign.” During the last four years, the company has invested nearly $1 billion in large scale projects in generation, transmission, and distribution, according to the Economic Business Review.

As part of the current investment plans, KESC will carry out combined cycle projects at its three power plants at Korangi and SITE. These projects will add 47 MW of capacity. KESC also plans to convert two of its oil-fired 210 MW units at its Bin Qasim-I power station to coal, to reduce generation costs.

The company also has a “Transmission Package” to install new transformer bays, three new grid stations at strategic locations, and expand six existing grid stations.