Power generation up 8.9% during January 2022

KARACHI: The power generation in Pakistan went up 8.9 per cent on a year-on-year basis to 8,797GWh (11,824 MW) during January 2022, compared to 8,079GWh (10,859 MW) during the same month last year, a report by Arif Habib Limited showed.

The rise in generation was owed to higher generation from high speed diesel (HSD), nuclear, wind, furnace oil (FO) and coal.

The major contributors in the generation during the month under review included coal with 33 per cent, nuclear 14.4 per cent, gas 14.4 per cent, FO 14.1 per cent, regasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) 7 per cent, HSD 7 per cent, Hydel 6 per cent, wind 2 per cent, bagasse 1 per cent and solar 1 per cent.

The coal based power generation increased 39 per cent on a month-on-month basis in January due to the resumption of China Power Hub Generation Unit-1, which was offline due to transformer failure.

During January 2022, fuel cost for power generation increased 102 per cent on a year-on-year basis to Rs12.22/KWh mainly due to the rise in FO, HSD, coal and RLNG based cost of generation.

In addition to this hydel and solar based generation decreased 52 per cent and 3 per cent on a year-on-year basis, respectively.

The fuel cost for power generation was up 102 per cent on a year-on-year basis during January 2022, as the coal based cost of generation went up by 118 per cent on a year-on-year basis to Rs14.10/KWh during the month due to 97 per cent year-on-year rise in coal prices.

The RLNG based cost of generation increased 101 per cent on a year-on-year basis to Rs16.70/KWh due to 71 per cent year-on-year rise in the RLNG prices to Rs2,395/mmbtu ($13.57/mmbtu).

The FO-based cost of generation increased 85 per cent on a year-on-year basis to Rs22.81/KWh, while HSD based cost of generation also increased 37 per cent year-on-year to Rs25.98/KWh.

Hydel-based generation decreased 52 per cent and solar based generation also decreased 3 per cent on a year-on-year basis.