Pakistan power shortfall reaches 7200 MW

• 12 years ago (2011-05-05)
• David Flin

Asia 847

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Pakistan’s electricity shortfall rose beyond 7200 MW on May 1 as Pakistan State Oil’s furnace oil import was delayed by two days, creating a generation hole of over 2000 MW in the Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) system.

According to PEPCO, the shortfall arising from the oil shortage included 500 MW at Kapco, 600 MW at Hubco, and almost 700 MW at Jamshoro. In addition to these major plants, the barge-mounted Karkey plant (232MW) stopped operation because it did not have oil, and the Faisalabad combined cycle units (210 MW) neither had gas nor money to purchase diesel. The Japan Power Plant produced just 24 MW of its capacity of 107 MW, and Sapcol generated 50 MW from its capacity of 110 MW.

Pakistan State Oil had run out of furnace oil stock on May 1, and had been expecting a shipload of oil that same day. However, the ship had been delayed for 2 days, resulting in the crisis.