Islamabad February 20 2023: Pakistan power generation in January fall for the eighth straight month by 3.2 percent to 8,515 gigawatt hours (GWh) from 8,797 GWh a year ago, according to data shared by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA).
The decline in generation was owed to lower generation from RFO, local Gas and Coal. However, electricity generation is increased 1.2 percent from 8,417 GWh from the previous month.
Power generation on coal decline by 16 percent to 2,444 GWh when compared with the same month last year. Coal power generation in the country peaked at 2,917 GWh in January last year before sliding back to 975 GWh in November 2022. As a ratio of total generation in any given month, the share of coal power also drop from its peak of 33.2 percent touched in January 2022 to 28.7 percent in January 2023. According to data, share of coal generation in the country’s total electricity output bottomed to 11.3 percent in September 2022 during this fiscal year.
The per-unit fuel cost of electricity generation on Coal is PKR 16.05 in January versus PKR 28.95 of RFO and PKR 21.91 of RLNG, data showed.
In the last five years Pakistan has aggressively pursued coal power under the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative as well as outside it, increasing coal-based capacity from negligible to 4,620 megawatts. With seven other coal-based projects under construction, the country expects to add 4,590 megawatts by the end of 2026.
Power generation on RLNG increase 105 percent to 1,286 GWh when compared with the same month last while gas based generation decrease by 9.4 percent to 1,146 GWh when compared with the same month last year.
Generation of electricity from Nuclear rose significantly by 48.3 percent to 1,876 GWh when compared with generation of 1,265 GWh in the same month of last year. The fuel cost of generation on Nuclear is PKR 1.07 per unit which was lowest among all thermal based source.
Solar and Wind based power generation increased by 54.9 percent and 47.4 percent to 72 GWh and 287 GWh during the month of January 2022 when compared with same month last year.
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