Rs370bn investment proposed for national grid expansion

The National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) that runs the country’s national grid has sought approval for a Rs370 billion investment plan for system expansion and loss reduction over the next three years (2023-25). In a petition to the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), the transmission system operator stated that the proposed investment was required to meet the needs of an expanding transmission network with the induction of new power plants and technologies to various parts of the country, rehabilitation of existing system and need for new technologies to contain losses. It said about 45pc (Rs167bn) of its investment would be utilised over the three years for power evacuation projects as new power plants achieve commercial operations while another 43pc (Rs158bn) investment would be used in removing system constraints through rehabilitation, upgradation and expansion of the national grid. The remaining 12pc investment would be used equally (6pc each) for new special industrial zones of Dhabeji, Haripur, Swabi, Lahore and Faisalabad under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (Rs24bn) and protection upgradation and use of the latest equipment for system conversions like from 220kV to 500kV and so on (Rs21bn).