Implementation of indicative generation capacity plan put on hold.

Byline: Khaleeq Kiani

ISLAMABAD -- The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has strongly reacted to a long-term official plan - the Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP) 2020-47 - and has put on hold its implementation due to serious shortcomings.

The IGCEP is a policy document prepared by the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) of the federal government under which the future generation capacity expansion should take place in various fuel and technology categories on least cost basis.

Among other major deficiencies, the plan had proposed the 4,500MW capacity induction from $14 billion Diamer-Bhasha Dam after 2043 even though the project is targeted for completion by the government in 2027-28 with public sector investment.

In a rather unusual move, Nepra has told the federal government and all its five major entities, including the NTDC, even before completing the consultative process that the long-term energy plan in its present form could not be implemented. In a letter to all the government entities concerned, Nepra has reported that it had carried out a preliminary review of the plan and 'is of the considered opinion that the submitted version of the IGCEP will require a significant improvement to make it an acceptable document'.

Just to highlight one such concern, Nepra observed that even the Diamer-Bhasha Dam, which is a project of paramount importance for the economy of the country for which the Water and Power Development Authority has recently awarded its contract, and the prime minister was due to grace its ground-breaking ceremony, had been pushed back in the year 2043 in the latest version of the IGCEP.

Nepra says the IGCEP 2020-47 will require a significant improvement to make it an acceptable document

'This is just one example, which is not plausible. However, there seem to be many other obvious cases similar to this, which require explanation and probable correction,' Nepra said.

The IGCEP 2020-47 was submitted to Nepra for approval by the NTDC on April 20, 2020. The regulator said that as part of the regulatory approval process it has already placed the submitted plan in public domain for seeking comments of the stakeholders and will be holding a public hearing in due course of time to arrive at an informed decision in the matter.

However, it had observed at various relevant forums where stakeholders had highlighted that a number of ongoing as well as future power projects were...

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