Strengthening power sector: Iesco officials trained on load management

USAID-funded programme aims at reducing unscheduled loadshedding.

A certificate distribution ceremony for the participants of a two-day training programme for Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) officials was held here on Tuesday, said a press release .

The session was organised by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Power Distribution Program, a five-year project.

Iesco Chief Executive Officer Engineer Muhammad Yousaf Awan and USAID Energy Office Deputy Director Tim Moore distributed certificates among the participants.

The training was attended by 25 officers including executive engineers (XENs), sub-divisional officers (SDOs) and chief engineers (CE) at transmission and generation levels.

The session was part of the USAID programme to provide training to the staff of power distribution companies (DISCOs) in load management, which will eventually help in reducing unscheduled load-shedding.

Through this programme, the US provides assistance to Pakistan in its efforts to reform the power sector, mitigate the current crisis, strengthen energy sector to improve the supply and distribution of power.

The programme is helping DISCOs improve their performance by reducing losses, increasing revenues and enhancing customer services.

The USAID project has implemented its load data improvement (LDI) programme, installed automatic meter reading devices in all DISCOs and upgraded their power distribution centres (PDCs).

Accordingly, Iesco’s PDC was upgraded and made functional on May 30, 2013, with live data now being acquired from all of its grid stations and outgoing feeders.

The National Power Control Center (NPCC) supplies electricity to DISCOs which then distributes it to the end consumer. Previously, the actual load data on incoming and outgoing feeders of grid stations was read manually by operators and transmitted telephonically to the distribution centres.

This information was then manually transmitted to the NPCC for generation dispatch, in a process that was both time-consuming and opened the information to easy manipulation, with a distinct absence of accountability and oversight. Currently, the Iesco PDC is outfitted with multiple screens displaying live load data by grid substation and feeder.

Power factor information is also displayed indicating when capacitor banks should be deployed to improve the voltage level.

AMR meters have been installed on all grid stations of Iesco that are reporting live load data information to perform effective load management and curtailing unscheduled load shedding.

The project has helped Iesco in almost eliminating unscheduled load-shedding, obtaining optimum utilisation of available power, target planned load-shedding resulting in increased revenues, and improving its operational and financial performance.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2014.