Delivering on a commitment to reduce the number of rolling blackouts in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi, the new management of the utility Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) has ordered 64 of GE Energy’s Jenbacher gas engines to supply 180MW of urgently needed power to the local grid. The milestone contract was signed on 22 November.
Karachi has been facing an average daily shortage of 500MW in electricity, forcing KESC to impose rolling blackouts called load shedding to prevent the city’s grid from being further overwhelmed. To reduce the need for load shedding during the daytime, KESC is installing 64 of GE’s J620 natural gas-fuelled engines in two power plants at separate sites in Karachi, where the engines will replace existing, outdated turbines.
The first 90MW phase of the 'Fast Track Gas Engine Power Plant' project is expected to begin delivering urgently needed power by June 2009 as KESC is committed to quickly improve electricity conditions in the city. The second 90MW phase will also enter service in mid-2009.
KESC is the only vertically integrated power utility in Pakistan. It works in the areas of generation, transmission and distribution to serve the electricity needs of Karachi and its surrounding areas, and has a customer base of 2.2 million. The utility’s new management said it will demonstrate its commitment to improve service as quickly as possible through positive results.
“We are moving as quickly as possible to install additional power generation capacity to meet the critical needs of Karachi’s business and residential sectors,” said KESC CEO Naveed Ismail. “KESC selected GE’s Jenbacher gas engines because they have a proven track record in Pakistan and the ability to be installed very quickly. Furthermore, GE also has the manufacturing capacity to meet our needs for such a large number of engines in a very short period of time.” In addition to the Jenbacher power plants, the utility has added 96MW at its Korangi thermal plant and 50MW in rental power. Combined, KESC will be adding 338MW to the grid by the end of 2009, Ismail noted.
Addressing Karachi’s chronic electricity shortages by investing in new energy infrastructure is the top priority for KESC. KESC’s record order of Jenbacher engines demonstrates the growing appeal for flexible, distributed energy technology to help utilities address local power demands in urban or rural settings. The milestone project doubles the size of the previous record for the largest single order of GE’s natural gas-fuelled Jenbacher engines, a record that has been established, tied or surpassed several times since 2007. The new project was arranged through GE’s Jenbacher engine distributor for the region, Orient Energy Systems.
“We are extremely pleased to be able to work with KESC in its efforts to meet the urgent power needs of the people of Karachi,” said Prady Iyyanki, CEO of GE Energy’s Jenbacher gas engine business. “We look forward to helping KESC improve grid service to support economic growth in the city, which is of vital interest to the entire country.” Iyyanki also noted that GE has hired additional engineers and recently expanded its gas engine manufacturing capacity to help quickly meet the growing demand around the world for cleaner power generating solutions based on gas.
“We are proud to be a part of this mega project with KESC to overcome a part of the power shortage that creates a serious issue for the residential and industrial end users in the largest port city of Pakistan, and will execute this project well in time,” said Orient Energy Systems chairman Syed Rehan Hashmi.
GE’s highly efficient gas engines can use either natural gas or a wide range of biogases and industrial waste gases.
Twitter