China has launched a number of power projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to help Pakistan meet its domestic and industry energy needs.
Some of these projects are completed and contributing 5,920MW of electricity to the national grid, while work on some plants with 3,870MW capacity is underway.
Another 3,244MW project is being contemplated.The power projects completed under CPEC are somewhat an energy mix, but the coal-fired plants dominate both in terms of numbers and quantum of the power generated.
As power transmission system also needed an improvement and refurbishing, so a project of 4,000MW evacuation capacity (Matiari-to-Lahore 660KV HVDC transmission line) was also completed.
The addition of thousands of megawatts of additional electricity to the national grid has transformed Pakistan into an energy-sufficient country from an energy-deficient one, thus opening new vistas of industrial growth in the country. Especially, with the initiation of work on industrial zones along CPEC route in the second phase of the multi-billion-dollar project and foreign direct investment coming in the growth in power sector would help bring economic turnaround in the country.
According to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2019-20, the installed electricity generation capacity reached 37,402MW in 2020. The maximum total demand of residential and industrial sectors stands at nearly 25,000MW, whereas the installed transmission and distribution capacity is approximately 22,000MW. This leads to a shortfall of about 3,000MW when the demand peaks. This additional 3,000MW requirement cannot be transmitted even though the peak demand of the country is well below its installed generation capacity of 37,402MW. With the commissioning of power projects initiated under CPEC in the first phase, some 5,920MW of power was added to the national grid. As per the data shared by CPEC Authority, which operates directly under the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, the major chunk of power generation came from four coal-fired projects, which collectively generated 4,620MW, while 1,000MW were contributed by two solar energy units and the rest of 300MW came from three wind-based power plants.
The total cost of these projects stood at $10.337 billion. These projects generated thousands of jobs during the course of their construction, while several thousands more were hired for the plants’ regular functioning and upkeep.
