NTDC's progress on removal of system constraints slow Nepra report.

ISLAMABAD -- While presenting bleak picture of NTDC's performance, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority has noted that the company's transmission system remained incapable to transmit the electric power from efficient power plants and it is still requiring a longer period to fix the existing constraints which are causing the operation of power plants in violation of EMO.

NTDC could not be able to complete the interconnection facilities for evacuation of power from new power plants causing under-utilization of the available capacity and supply of cheap electricity from Thar coal projects, said NTDC's performance evaluation report 2021-22 released by NEPRA here Friday.

Over the years NTDC has been reporting constraints in transmission system as one of the major causes of under-utilization of efficient power plants. During the reported period, at several instances, the transmission system remained incapable to transmit the electric power from efficient power plants to load centers to meet the demand, said the report.

NTDC needs to take measures/steps to remove constraints in its network to off-take electric power from existing power plants as well as upcoming power projects in light of the Transmission System Expansion Plan (TSEP) duly integrated with the plan for induction of new generation plants in accordance with Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP).Similarly, the data pertaining to system constraints revealed that most of the grid stations are overloaded.

NTDC's progress on removal of system constraints is slow and around 11 projects are delayed. NTDC needs to complete it on priority to avoid any adverse impacts on the power sector.

NTDC could not be able to complete the interconnection facilities for evacuation of power from new power plants as per the approved design and within the stipulated time period and thus caused under-utilization of the available capacity. It has also been observed that progress on evacuation projects is slow due to which cheap electricity located in Thar is compromised. Such as the absence of dedicated transmission line for Shanghai Electric Company Limited (SECL) plant, leads to load curtailment of Engro Power Thar Limited (EPTL) and Thar Energy Limited (TEL) due to inadequate transmission capacity. NTDC needs to complete its evacuations projects on priority so that any adverse impact on the power sector may be avoided.

The duration of interruption was witnessed around 0.15 hours (9...