ISLAMABAD: The operationalisation of the Matiari-Lahore transmission line — Pakistan’s first and mega High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) project — would reduce power losses from 17 to four percent, resulting in the availability of cheap electricity, Prime Minister Imran Khan said Thursday.
The 878-kilometre 4,000-megawatt project, launched under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, has been completed by Pak Matiari-Lahore Transmission Company (Pvt.) Ltd. on a build-operate-transfer basis for 25 years.
It will evacuate power from the new generating units located in the south, including Thar coal projects.
The Economic Coordination Committee had approved in July 2017 the security package documents — implementation agreement and transmission services agreement — that were subsequently executed in May 2018.
The National Transmission and Despatch Company will be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the line.
Addressing the inauguration of project, the prime minister said the project would prove as a “leading energy transmission artery from the country’s south to north”.
Khan said the reduction of line losses would save billions and also lessen the burden on the public, keeping them from compensating for it.
He regretted the previous government did not carry out on-ground work on the project signed with China in 2013, which made the public immensely suffer the power load-shedding.
The prime minister expressed satisfaction that his government after assuming power in 2018 carried out the construction work of the project at full pace and completed it despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
Besides energy, other CPEC projects under Belt and Road Initiative relating to industrialisation and innovation in agriculture would be launched in the next phase, he said.
He hoped that completion of CPEC projects would lead to wealth creation and help the government pay off balloning foreign debts.
Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar said the project, which was made operational earlier this month after testing it in three phases including the peak seasons, would help in removing the transmission bottleneck.
He said the CPEC power projects were the important pillars of Pakistan’s economic system and were acting as “smart and efficient sources” of green energy generation.
Chinese Ambassador Nong Rong while terming the operationalisation of the project a milestone said Pakistan’s power grid system had now entered a new era of development and upgradation.
He said cheap electricity was key to socio-economic development of Pakistan and vowed that China would continue to extend its support in this regard.
He mentioned that the line would go along 510 kilometres of motorway and create around 70,000 employment opportunities.
State Grid Corporation of China President Xin Baoan, in his video-link address to the ceremony, said the 70th anniversary of Pakistan-China friendship was marked by cooperation at diverse levels for the benefit of their people.
He said his corporation would work closely with its local counterparts in Pakistan on projects of energy cooperation.
The project will evacuate power from the upcoming coal-based thermal power plants located at Port Qasim, Hub and Thar.
The NTDC carried out a study through an international consultant which proposed HVDC technology for transfer of bulk power for its cost-effectiveness and lower line losses. Moreover, the requirement of ‘right of way’ for HVDC is less than High-Voltage Alternate Current (HVAC) lines.
The line will employ about 1,973 towers and two converter stations with AC substations, one each at Matiari and Lahore.
It will have two grounding stations at 50-80 kilometres from converter stations and three repeater stations along the route of line to boost telecommunication signals, each at Salehpat, Rahiim Yar Khan, Hasilpur.
National Electric Power Regulatory Authority has approved the total cost of the project at $1,658 million (including taxes and insurance) and has issued a tariff determination of Rs.0.74 per kWh at the rate of $1.
The monthly HVDC Line capacity charges for 4,000 MW are Rs 4.2 billion approximately (after indexation in tariff).
The self-supported towers have been installed for bi-pole HVDC line with Quad Bundle Conductor and size of 4×1250 mm2.
The NEPRA has fixed the line availability factor of 98.5 percent and any non-availability beyond 1.5 pecent allowed unavailability shall be penalised. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) of the Sindh government and Punjab government have issued No-Objection certificates for EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment).
The testing and commissioning of the project continued for more than one year and was completed on August 18 after its trial run for 168 hours along with capability demonstration tests.
