The energy experts on Wednesday were of the view that power-wheeling was crucial to producing clean and affordable energy in order to enhance power productivity by reducing production cost for the industrial sector.
The experts made the remarks at a public-private dialogue titled with “Power Wheeling Reforms for Offtake of Renewable Energy: Options and Challenges for Pakistan’s Corporate Sector” organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here. Speaking on the occasion, Advisor to Competitive Trading Bilateral Contract Market (CTBCM), NEPRA Gul Hassan Bhutto said since 1992 NEPRA had been unable to make the power market competitive, but CTBCM and power wheeling would overcome these hurdles.
He said that wheeling allowed meeting energy demand by transporting power from point of generation to point of demand and the wholesale power market aims to align policy and regulatory frameworks, provide non-discriminatory access to all market players, attract investments, build efficiency, and lower the power tariffs. This would also lead to auctions and bilateral contracts, reduction in consumer price, credit worthiness, moving away from sovereign guarantees, and integrated system planning, he maintained. Manager, Market Design and Development, Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) Ahmed Tanvir Qazi said that CTBCM enabled fair and affordable power supply keeping in view the interests of all stakeholders by considering a holistic view of how each decision in CTBCM impacts each stakeholder and ultimately the economy. Senior Advisor, SDPI Dr Hassan Daud Butt stressed the need for addressing legal and regulatory headwinds, incorporating all energy generation sources to increase the efficacy of power wheeling in Pakistan.
He informed that at the beginning of CPEC, the energy sector was confronted with various challenges but private sector investments of $22billion in a period of 3 years proved instrumental. He stressed transparency and ensuring delivery on the policies which must be developed and executed in consultation with indigenous experts particularly for industrial and export sector. General Manager Special Projects, K-Electric Alia Idris said that KE had plans to invest Rs 500 billion in power generation, transmission and distribution and will inject 30% power through renewables by 2030. She emphasized on establishing safe and fair mechanism for cost determination in a regulated market, ensuring grid stability, transmission and distribution infrastructure reinforcement to encourage power wheeling in Pakistan and sought more collaboration with NTDC so that affordable power might be provided to consumers.