Nonchalant KESC on fuel-saving voyage

KARACHI - Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), the power utility, supposed to fulfil the electricity needs of the metropolis is being run on commercial basis without any maintenance philosophy while its power plants are running well below 40 to 50 percent of total generation capacity. According to reliable sources in the company, the KESC core strategy is to save fuel as much as possible and the fact could be gauged from the production of its key power plant Bin Qasim Power Plant which produced only 510MW on Sunday against its potential generation capacity of 1,200MW. The Bin Qasim Power Plant unit number 1, 2, 5 and 6 generated 110MW, 80MW, 140MW, and 180MW respectively on Sunday, while its unit 3 and 4 remained shut which reflects the indifference of the company towards the miseries of the citizens in the financial hub of the country. On the other hand, energy conservation, at all levels is also the need of the hour to cop with the worse electricity shortage in the country. While talking to TheNation, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Pakistan (IEEEP) Chairman Tahir Saleem said the government must-have both the short-term and long-term planning to resolve the energy crisis. The short-term planning includes energy conservation and the long term planning requires the establishment of power plants, and it has to bear in mind that we should in first look for the indigenous resources available in the country rather than importing rental power plants, he elaborated. He maintained that the IEEEP had recommendations for the better solution to the energy crisis like tariff scheme should be devised to cater incentives for energy efficient utilization via energy efficient equipment. While the utilization of facts must be made which include flexible AC transmission system performance such as increasing power flow capacity of transmission line, voltage stability and overall system security. Moreover, adoption of intelligent high frequency PWM (pulse width modulation) of a series transformer to be encouraged to obtain precise output voltage with lightening-fast-response time to achieve substantial savings in the sized, weight and energy losses of the unit. The institute suggested to the government re-conductoring of the distribution system to check the line losses must be done to cover the factors, technical losses, and pilferage. To accomplish eradication of technical losses a detailed load flow study also has to be done to account for the unauthorized enhancement of the end-user and apply the right size of the conductor to cater for the actual load and not the sectional load. The use of energy saver lamps to be more emphasized as same illumination level is achieved with 18 watts compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) when used instead of a 100 watts incandescent bulb. LED lights for street lighting must be applied being more efficient, reliable and less power consuming in the long run. Greatest advantage being more reliable regarding total blackout possibility when a bulb gets fused in the signal light as couple of LEDs failure will still illuminate the signal with sufficient luminosity. Coal can be used in the conventional manner as also after gasification and most interestingly by converting coal to coal diesel a proven technology that reportedly produces Diesel at half of its current market value. Pro-active and regular education and training programmes for trade and industry must be put in place (by organizations like ENERCON)urgently to address issues such as use of inefficient re-wound motors and transformers, use of high efficiency motors and energy conservation. KESC distribution system should be augmented and developed to meet the requirements of the consumer, and methods should be developed in-house to reduce downtime of MV feeders in KESC.