Keen to close the gap in electricity supply in Pakistan, KSES called on SSGC for immediate supply of the committed additional 130 Mmcf/day of natural gas for its 560-MW new combined-cycle power plant at Bin Qasim.
"This extra power generation [volume] could ease the demand/supply gap in the city [of Karachi]," KESC said.
KESC, the operator of the Bin Qasim Power Plant II, voiced serious concerns over a "sudden reduction in gas supply and called on SSGC to resume with adequate gas supply for its fleet of power plants at the earliest time possible. "The unplanned reduction in gas supply from SSGC has resulted in an unfortunate increase in the load shedding hours for the utility's residential and commercial consumers", it said.
Keen to limit power shortages, KESC and the Pakistani power grid operator made concerted efforts to contain the load shed duration in residential and commercial areas from 3 hours to a maximum of 6 hours. However, with the negative impact on power generation because of the gas shortfall, the load shed ceiling has gone up to 7.5 hours in some areas.