lahore - All Pakistan Textile Mills Association Punjab acting chairman Mehmood Ehsan has strongly condemned the government plan of suspending gas supply to captive power plants, claiming that assertions about inefficiency of textile industry’s CPPs were based upon absolutely false facts.
“We strongly condemn the campaign started against textile industry’s captive power plants, which have average efficiency of about 40pc.”
The acting Punjab chairman said that CPPs in spinning units have efficiency level of 35pc, weaving 60pc and processing units up to 70pc. This efficiency has been measured in energy audits conducted in the mills with the help of German International Cooperation.
He said that government-owned gas fired power plants efficiency is far below than CPPs, as Jamshoro power company’s efficiency ranges from 14pc to 28pc, CPGCL has 25pc to 27pc and NPGCL efficiency level is 19pc to 32pc of different blocks.
APTMA group leader Ejaz Gohar said that it is quite ironical that the energy efficiency of the CNG sector is not more than 10 to 12 percent but NAB chief is worrying about the efficiency of CPPs, which is close to 40 per cent in general and above 45 percent with Combined Cycle Usage, equal to nearly 50 percent efficiency of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) on Combined Cycle Usage.
Various studies by internationally renowned institutions, including Friends of Pakistan and Ministry of Petroleum, have unanimously resolved that power production through CPPs is the most efficient and economically viable use of natural gas around the world.
Gohar Ejaz highlighted the energy constraints being faced by the industrial sectors due to excessive loadshedding. He said the textile industry was unable to understand that why gas supply has been revised down to three days a week from earlier five days a week last year when there was no change in infrastructure and system of gas supply. Also, he raised the question that why the industry was being exposed to 10 to 12 hours a day load shedding when there was no load shedding for industry at the same last year.
The APTMA leader said CPPs are generating 4000MW power in Pakistan, leading to creation of hundreds and thousands of jobs in textile sector. The textile exports have also witnessed 8 percent growth, which was quite unimaginable in the absence of CPPs. Pakistan has passed through unprecedented energy crisis since November 2007. Chances of collapsing of Pakistan economically in the absence of CPPs, he added.
He said that CPPs on SNGPL produce 1200MW by consuming 300 MMCFD gas whereas gas supply to CPPs is available 150 MMCFD on average annuallly. CCPs in Sindh, KPK and Balochistan are operating at optimum, based on annual sales volumes in OGRA petitions filed by SNGPL and SSGC.
He said that gas based IPPs can produce upto 1500MW of power by consuming 300MMCFD gas if operate at designed efficiency, hower, net consumption would be 1170MW after adjusting average T&D losses (22pc) of PEPCO, which less than the CCPs generation –cum-consumption by consuming the same volume.