Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is scheduled to inaugurate Pakistan”s first private hydropower IPP in Mirpur, Azad Kashmir on Monday (today). The 84MW run-of-the river New Bong Escape Hydropower Project would replace approximately 135,000 tons of oil import valued in excess of $100 million per annum.

Laraib”s New Bong Escape Hydropower Project will contribute 540 GWh of green energy annually into the National Grid under a 25 year PPA with NTDC. This project will provide cheaper electricity and energy security to the country. Laraib Energy Ltd is a subsidiary of Hub Power Company (Hubco). Hubco is now also poised to be the first IPP to convert its power station to coal to provide even cheaper energy than at present and save hundreds of millions of dollars being spent on oil imports every year.

One of the biggest issues of power sector in Pakistan is the expensive power generation, and the inauguration of country”s first private sector hydro IPP by Laraib has paved the way for private sector investment in hydropower projects for producing cheap electricity.

The project was scheduled to be completed in 42 months, itself a demanding target, but has been completed over 2 months earlier; comparing 3 similar low-head hydropower projects on the Ohio River, USA totalling 191MW started 1 year before NBE Hydropower Project but still have 1 year to commercial operations.

The New Bong Escape Hydropower Project has the distinction of being Pakistan”s first hydropower project to be registered with the United Nations” Framework Convention on Climate Change as clean mechanism development (CDM) project, and has made solid contribution in offsetting green house emission globally.

The Asian Development Bank and other lending banks, multilateral IDB, IFC and Proparco France and two domestic commercial banks NBP and HBL, played a very pro-active and constructive role in structuring the project and finance documents thus making this pioneering project a reality. The successful completion of Pakistan”s first independent hydropower project by a private investor, in record time, has given hope for harnessing the vast potential of the country”s water sector. As per official estimates, Pakistan has 100,000MW of hydel power generation. However, only about 6,500MW of potential has been harnessed so far.  News Network International, 2013

Nawaz to open Pakistan’s first private hydel plant today

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is scheduled to inaugurate Pakistan’s first private hydel power project near Mangla Dam in Azad Kashmir on Monday.

The 84MW run-of-the river New Bong Escape Hydropower Project is expected to provide electricity to Wapda at about Rs8.7 per kwh, compared to average thermal generation cost in excess of Rs18 per unit.

The commercial production at the project is estimated to save about 135,000 tons of imported oil costing over $100 million per annum.

It will provide 540 GWh of green energy per year to the national grid under a 25-year power purchase agreement with the National Transmission and Dispatch Company.

Laraib Energy Ltd, a private company taken over by the Hub Power Company (Hubco) a couple of years ago, commissioned the plant two months ahead of its schedule of 42 months.

Interestingly, Hubco was the first to establish a 1,292MW private thermal power plant in Balochistan and the company is now planning to convert it to coal under an agreement with the government to provide cheaper energy to reduce dependence on imported oil.

One of the biggest issues of the power sector is expensive power generation, and the inauguration of private sector hydel project by Laraib has paved the way for private investment in the sector.

It is also Pakistan’s first hydropower plant to be registered with the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change as a clean mechanism development project, and has made solid contribution in offsetting greenhouse emission globally.

The Asian Development Bank and other lending agencies, multilateral IDB, IFC and Proparco France and two domestic commercial banks, NBP and HBL, played a constructive role in structuring the project and finance documents.

The successful completion of the county’s first independent hydropower project by a private investor, in record time, has given hope for harnessing the vast potential of the water sector.

As per official estimates, Pakistan has a potential to generate 100,000MW of hydel power. But only about 6,500MW of the potential has been harnessed so far. DAWN