CCI includes hydel power in renewable energy targets

Imran orders technology-based solutions to save consumers from inconvenience of load-management

ISLAMABAD:

The Council of Common Interests (CCI) decided on Monday to include hydel power in the renewable energy targets and directed the Power Division to finalise the “wheeling” policy so that it could be rolled out immediately.

Chairing the 48th meeting of the CCI, Prime Minister Imran Khan directed the Power Division to employ technology-based solutions at the distribution companies level to save the paying consumers from the inconvenience of load-management in low recovery grids.

The meeting was attended the chief ministers Usman Buzdar of Punjab, Murad Ali Shah of Sindh, Mehmood Khan of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), besides by federal ministers Hammad Azhar, Dr Fehmida Mirza, Asad Umar, Shaukat Tareen, Dr Farogh Naseem and Fawad Chaudhry.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister Tabish Gohar, K-P Minister Finance Taimoor Jhagra, Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Sheikh, Balochistan’s Inter Provincial Coordination Minister Umar Jamali and Nationalo Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) Chairman Tauseef Farooqi were also present.

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During the meeting, the Power Division provided a detailed presentation on the preparation of the Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP) 2021.

The CCI was informed that the Power Division had held several consultative sessions with all the provinces and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The IGCEP is a plan prepared by the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) on an annual basis that provides indicative electricity demand and supply for the next 10 years based on overall requirements.

Imran stated that the main objective of the IGCEP was to determine energy needs and providing cheap energy to the masses. He emphasised that the objective of the government was to reform energy generation, transmission and distribution and turn them into an efficient system.

The prime minister directed the Power Division to employ technology-based solutions at distribution companies’ level to save the interests of paying consumers from the inconvenience of load-management in low recovery grids.

The CCI unanimously approved the IGCEP assumptions as recommended by the federal cabinet on August 31. The CCI also decided to include hydel electricity in renewable energy targets and directed the Power Division to finalise “wheeling” policy so that it could be rolled out immediately.