Knocking on neighbours’ doors: Energy-starved Pakistan looks to India for electricity
Energy-starved Pakistan has already looked west, to Iran, for gas necessary to generate much needed power for the country’s industries and consumers.
Now it’s looking east, to India. Pakistan hopes to import 500 megawatts (MW) from its arch-rival and neighbour, according to Federal Secretary for the Ministry of Water and Power Qazi Imtiaz Ahmed.
Tenders will be issued soon, after the planned deal is formally approved by the federal cabinet, Ahmed told The Express Tribune. He hoped the plan would be approved in the cabinet’s next meeting.
The official said the government aimed to finalise the modalities, tariffs and terms and conditions for the import of power as soon as possible.
“We will invite power supply companies of India for the implementation of the project soon,” he said.
What has already been decided bilaterally is that a 45-kilometre-long, 220 kV line will be constructed within six months of a formal agreement on the project. The agreement will be valid for five years, and will be negotiable for another five years or more.
Looking west
Meanwhile, a high-level delegation from the ministry is expected to visit Tehran by the end of this month to negotiate terms and conditions for the import of 1,000MW of electricity from Iran.
“Islamabad has asked Tehran to arrange a meeting of the Pakistani negotiating team with its Iranian counterpart by the end of April or by May 10,” Qazi said. Iran’s offer to supply 1,000MW of electricity was made a while back – but bureaucratic obstacles had resulted in a long delay over bilateral negotiations.
Currently, Pakistan is importing 70MW of electricity from Iran for the coastal city of Makran in Balochistan. Tehran is also preparing to export 100MW of electricity to Gwadar within next few months. The secretary confirmed that an advance payment has already been issued by Pakistan to Iran for the Gwadar project.
Failure to pay bills
Secretary Ahmed was candid about the government’s failure to produce enough power. The ministry of water and power had been unable to clear outstanding dues - worth over Rs350 billion - to be paid to power producing companies.
He remarked that there were two major reasons for the massive default: ‘’First, the federal government has not paid a subsidy amount of Rs150 billion so far, secondly, our people have not been able to collect another Rs150 billion from major consumers.”
He added that the total amount that the ministry has to pay to oil and gas companies is not Rs450 billion as suggested by media reports.
In spite of its cash woes, the government will have to build major power producing projects within the next five years – or else, the present shortfall of 6000MW will increase.
The cash-strapped government has also been unable to start construction on the Bhasha Dam project, as it has failed to meet the $11 billion required for it.
The secretary added that the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led consortium is trying to arrange the required financial resources. He added that the Friends of Pakistan forum is expected to join the consortium.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 22nd, 2012.
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@antanu g: Situation is far worse in Pakistan where metros like Karachi face massive load shedding dude. so yes comparison is bound to happen. BTW once nuke plant starts in Tamil Nadu their power woes will b solved and same is bound to happen when Japan clears sale of sensitive technology 2 India in recent dialogue. So dun worry abt India it will improve slowly and gradually. and we will certainly not be begging for help rather we provided 25 million dollars during 2010 floods and even dengue medicines 2 Pakistani Punjab state
@Salman: Ur mercy?? dude we r setting up nuke power plants thanks 2 d civil nuke deal. and unlike U we dun day dream and boast abt our greatness. Today Iran survives bcz of India and China. even if India stops buying Iranian crude their economy will suffer big tym. So stop harbouring illusions of grandeur. It would be easier if Pakistan was co-operative but we r not surviving on ur mercy at all. Get ur facts and mind in order. U get dengue medicines from us, ur patients come here 4 treatment and u need to sell ur goods in India 4 survival. get out of ur delusions
@My2Cents:
You are greatly mistaken. There's a surplus of natural gas in the US. We're flaring more than we use. I should know. I'm a commodities trader. Prices are at historical lows.
@Truthbetold:
That is an import terminal, not export. There is no gas surplus in the US, quite the opposite in fact as it is a preferred fuel by the EPA.
@BruteForce: "Power produced from the mountains of Kashmir and the Punjab cannot be supplied to say, Karnataka, there will be too much loss of electricity. " This is not true when you have a national grid. "Power produced from the mountains of Kashmir and the Punjab" does not have to "travel" to Karnataka or Kerala to be used there. A national grid is like a banking system. You pay into it in Kashmir and ask your Kerala branch to pay it out. So apart from minor local losses between a power station in Kashmir to the nearest national grid, there are no losses. I am not sure how comprehensive our national grid is, though. Even a national grid can "pay out" only as much as it takes in or slightly less. There is where the problem is. See ashok's informative post addressed to Riaz Haq.
@Salman.. UK controlled the world trade without land borders with any of the country in the world. Japan and USA have been doing the same for last 67 years. What made you think that India needs Pakistan to have trade with Iran and central Asia? We have learned how to do our business without Pakistan.
@khaqan: You have missed a zero! Not surprising -- Indian invention ;)
The funny thing about all this is that India is generating Electricity from the rivers of Kashmir, which Pakistan claims as its own, and selling them that same electricity. It double authenticates India's position, de facto.
Power produced from the mountains of Kashmir and the Punjab cannot be supplied to say, Karnataka, there will be too much loss of electricity. Why not sell it to Pakistan, instead and from the money from Pakistan, provide electricity from other means?
@Salman who says "India is at our own mercy as well. They cannot access central Asian countries and Iran’s energy reserves without us ;) so give and take situation for both the countries."
Actually, that's not true.
India can access central asian countries. it will be a little more difficult.
In Bangalore, daily we have abt 2 hours of power cut. I'm not saying that it's a lot. However, why not utilize our power than give to Pakistan.
I think, instead, what India should do is help them build power plant (not nuclear, of course!), dams, etc.
Teach them to fish, don't give them fish.
@Pakistani
So UP constitute of 80% of villages in India? dude you are lying.
Import LNG from Uncle Sam where the cost of natural gas is below $2.00 per 1000 cubic feet. They're flaring more gas than what's being used. This would be far mopre economical then importing it from Iran.
@khaqan: Your shortfall is lower because your industrialization and development is lower.
India is an enemy state and cannot be relied, so a big no.
@Riaz Haq:
You are simply wrong about the absence of national grid in India.
Update your knowledge. You have developed a habit of either undermining the development and achievements of India or misleading the readers.
Please read what Wikipedia says about national grid in India established as early as in 1992 and is ever expanding.
"National Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd.", known as POWERGRID, has enhanced the inter-regional capacity of National Grid to 22,400 MW. India is divided into 5 Regions - Northern Region(NR), Eastern Region(ER), Western Region(WR), Southern Region(SR) and North-East Region(NER).
Out of all these Regions the NR,ER,WR and NER are synchronized which is known as NEW Grid. Whereas SR is not synchronized with the rest of the regions with AC lines and hence runs on a slightly different Frequency. However, SR is connected with WR and ER with HVDC links only...."
@akhroot: Because they lack the basic knowledge of Project Management, or Accounting ! If its Funded, then it will be lost in process by their leaders, hence no projects or funds !
@Riaz Haq: . It is a fact that India still suffers from a shortage of Electricity to its own consumers and might find it economical to Export Electricity to Pakistan as it might be Totally Uneconomical to "Transmit" Electricity to "Big Distances" in India. . However, with Pakistan being in a position of not being able to service-repay its Foreign Debt and is now expecting to receive over US$ Four Billion from the IMF one feels that Pakistan will not be able to pay for the Electric Power it receives from India. . As such I would Opine that India should not Export Electricity to Pakistan. . Cheers
@akhroot: You need money for that! And of course water!
@Zaid Hamid: ha ha ! that was funny! Take all our reactors. We dont need them. And take our PM, Rahul Gandhi etc etc.
Salman when you will ever learn? Trade is 2 way street, if you are blocking Central Asia we are in-between Pakistan and South-east Asia. come out of the crab mentality.
why does Pakistan not make hydroelectric dams for God's sake?
@khaqan: Yoo obviously lack the very basic defination of "Million" it seems !!!!
syed, I am working n riyad saudi arabia , i m supervisor , i have more than 60 helpers from UP india , some of them don't have eclectricity at all, and some said they have only 4 hrs n a whole day
India added > 20000MW in the last fiscal itself. That's more than the entire generation capacity of Pakistan. India adds ~2500 to 3000 MW of renewable energy each year! Our total installed capacity is >200000 MW. BTW, India is planning on adding 200000 MW from solar power in the next 40 years! Plan for the future people!
Link on generation capacity: http://www.steelguru.com/indiannews/Indiapowergenerationcapacitycrosses200000_MW/259411.html
Pakistan has loads of potential for hydropower. Make use of it and develop this own energy sector!
@Surya: Mr Surya...I am as good an Indian as you...dont get ideas. I just speak the language of love and peace for our neighbor which can not be replaced by any means.And mind you love and peace are the very essence of indian (sanatan) culture which I follow. Its your choice to be hate monger.
@Akhil: Mr.Akhil...Mumbai and other metros are not facing even 30 seconds load shedding...but india is not only METROS or KERALA...go out of your state and see the difference.it is true tha 80% of the villages (hosting 70%) of the total population dont have power for 4 hours at a stretch.If you have any doubt, go back to a month back and surf through a TV programme on NDTV which puts the real picture on display.National pride is good ...even more necessary while making comparision with Pakistan one should not close his eyes.
@Pungi: you are right...in this sense indian media has great love for nation's image on international fora. they are as good as pakistanis in raising the issues but dont go overboard if it comes to our image.
Well need both Iranian and India electricity since we cant seem to generate our own, but how in the world are we going to pay India and Iran when our economy is kaput?
Had billions of dollars spent on producing 120 nuclear toys used for electricity generating infrastructure, Pakistan should have been exporting electricity to India today.
@American: Pakistan has a national grid. But there is no national grid in India making it difficult to share excess power in one region with another that has deficit. In fact, it's easier for Indian Punjab to sell power to Pakistan than to other Indian states.
@sustainable energy: The private power producers originally used oil when it was $60 a barrel. It soared to $150 a barrel in 2008 and the IPPs switched to gas which caused gas shortage. High prices of oil and shortage of gas also caused circular debt to spiral out of control leading to idling of large parts of installed capacity...hence the increased load shedding of both electricity and gas. Affordable fuel is the key to bringing it into balance with the use of coal and domestic shale gas which Pakistan has lots of. It needs to be developed on an accelerated schedule.
http://www.riazhaq.com/2012/04/pakistans-shale-gas-with-us-ksa-help.html
@ Khalsa Pakistan's power requirements is 25000 MW with population of 18 million. and your population is greater than117 milion.
We dont need India's help. We can generate our own energy. All the grass we have been eating ever since we decided to just eat grass now gets converted to methane whenever we fart. We will burn all the methane that we give out and generate lots of electricity.
Pakistan has the capacity to produce enough electricity by our own energy generation companies but as said in the news article has no money to pay for oil. How come the govt have money to pay to India and Iran for electricity. First the govt spend ton of money supposed to pay to buy oil) to buy rental power project( to get commision). I think the govt is delibrately creating power shortage. Just like they ruined our railways, airlines, steel mill and other industries by placing incompetant people. It seems like this govt is working on Indian agenda to ruin our beloved Pakistan. People if you dont do anything to remove this govt then they will sell out Pakistan to India. This govt is doing all sorts of things to please India on American request or danda.
elsewhere in this newspaper......Pakistan to go back to IMF for loan.........
it says everything.doesnt it?
we in India have yet to see how an electric bulb looks like..........i hope this satisfies Pakistani and his ilk.......................
as for Mr Riaz Haq is concerned..he should start worrying about Pakistan.
India is at our own mercy as well. They cannot access central Asian countries and Iran's energy reserves without us ;) so give and take situation for both the countries.
@Syed:
Sources? What is that?
@pakistani: Right, and u have been through all those villages. People like u r called ahshanfaramosh!
@zalim singh: U r a psudo pakistani. Please dare to reveal your true identity!
I have been watching @riaz haq for sometime now. He is somewhat of a well known Internet troll, always out to promote his own site. His message on practically anything is "Pakistan great, at least not so bad. India terrible." It is impressive that he keeps writing that even when Pakistan is practically up in flames and sliding into anarchy. Hmmm... A shady way to make a living I must say.
@antanu g: When will you stop pretending to be indian..
Difaa-e-Pakistan Council members have decided that 'impure' energy from India will not be allowed to reach Pakistan.
If need be they will sit on Dharna on the electricity power-lines.
The announcement has made rest of Pakistan very happy.
If you read carefully, this has nothing to do with exportable surplus in India or how-much-load-shedding in India. Indian private entrepreneurs will set up new Power Plants on Indian side of Punjab, and pump electricity over the 45 KM 220kv transmission line into Pakistan grid. This is possible because of pipelines and terminals already laid into Punjab from the Coast for imported fuel, and nearby refining capacities. AND Indian private entrepreneurship. AND Indian capital. So...take advantage and don't cry yourself hoarse about unconnected things...
Pakistan cannot produce electricity howcome pakistan made Atom Bomb, I have doubt ...... Now a days no need war, economic war is enough in which India win...HAHAHAHAHAHAHa hurah
India is ready to give to pakistan, provided Pakistan will also ready to take...............
Pakistan was quasi a Pilot Project which fell flat on its face thanks the blindfolded Mullah indoctrination, corrupt Politicians/Generals and all the with bribery infected institutions.
There is no law and order no United Voice in Pakistan and all the mullahs, politicians and generals are treating the country as their personal Shikargah.
Haram Electricity from Hindu India must be routed thru mosques to purify it.... ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
@khaqan: 4000 mw of electricity can create ruckus in pakistan?? just this much shortfall is required to bring 10s of hours of load shedding in major cities of pakistan leave aside small towns and villages... seriously what is the total requirement of pakistan?? just 7000-8000 mw??? India is producing 170000 mw of electricity and more will be added soon by private and govt sector....so our problem will be solved in short time but what about yours??? cant even met small power demand
@Pragmatist: you are wrong man. india will sell to pakistan just to show the world that it has the capability. truth is just opposite. we are also victims of loadsheddings for an everage of 12 hours daily.
@pakistani: are you living in india?
Stupid decision..when we can import it from Iran at much lesser rate then y dont we go for it..why India ? where people are already facing worse situation than Pakistan regarding loadshedding(their media however, will never highlight that)...Iran is much better choice for the time being & then after that we should utilize our own coal reserves...!!
from where we can provide power to pakistan while ourselves facing load sheddings for an average 12 daily hours across the country is anybody's guess.only at the cost of more hardship to us.
Power balancing can be a win-win for everyone. India can sell power to Pakistan at night when their demands are low which can be used to run Pakistani factories which are currently closed because of "no power".
@khaqan: If Pakistan has the guts, take up the offer and make India suffer mote.
This is preposterous! Indian villages have 25 hrs of daily load-shedding while our villages have only 23 Hrs. When Pak Army comes into power each village will be given a generator along with an emergency light.
well guys....We are not knoking Pakistan's door for Electricity.
This is just point scoring by India. Trouble is, India does not have surplus electricity to spare. But the leaders in India know that Pakistan can never take up the offer so they generously made it.
@Zalim Singh Its all gup shup , no truth. We know how much electricity you have. You are facing 35000 MW shortfall while Pakistan facing 4000 MW due to fuel prices not power capacity is issue. First give electricity to your those 40% people who have never seen electricity then be proud. At this time you are beggar and their as robbing our water.
@pakistani
Please provide sources to back your claims.
Well, there is no harm in getting electricity from neighbours including India to meet the shortfall but long term planning to generate its own electricity is the only answer which must be done on topmost priority if Pakistan has to survive as a nation.
Since all the scientific principles have already been mentioned in the Holy Book, all you have to do is to go through the Book carefully once again; You may find something that will give you electricity direct from the Sun. And you need not depend on the dishonest infidels.
@Riaz Haq,
Rejoice!! now all Pakistan's problems are solved since India has coal shortage, Cheer! Cheer!
No problem, during Ghazwa e Hind I'll instruct my men to steal all their nuclear reactors.
@Riaz Haq:
Coal and natural gas prices have been actually dropping precipitously. India is in negotiations with the American companies to import LNG and coal at very good prices since these are in huge surplus in the US. An LNG exporting terminal is being built in Louisiana. Many energy projects- coal, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, solar- are in various stages of planning and execution. Unlike Pakistan, financing these projects is not a problem for India.
@pakistani: " ... this is rediculous india don’t have enough electricity for their own people how they will export us, there is 20 hrs loadshed ding in the 80 % of the villages in india. ... "
We are after the coal in Sindh.
@pakistani No mate you are underestimating it, lets stick with Zahid Hamid's estimation its 26 hour load-shedding in 120% of the villages in India.
@pakistani: 20 hrs loadshedding.. seriously.. kidding me?
Inter dependence on each other is good, as it would reduce the risks of any fallout during the time of adversity. Rgds
@ Riaz Haq
You are almost right, except that the "affordable fuel" does not exists. Pakistani IPP's went to Gas based route just because the fuel was made affordable without any realistic valuation. Besides, the current crisis in Pakistan is not fully because of affordability or not of of the fuel but due to "default" by energy consumer making the power producer unable to buy that fuel itself, leading to the phenomenon called "circular debt". However, it is indeed a mystery why these energy producer set up their project on ad hock and whimsical basis without ensuring the long term availability of "affordable fuel".
this is rediculous india don't have enough electricity for their own people how they will export us, there is 20 hrs loadshed ding in the 80 % of the villages in india.
Well Indian villages themselves are suffering from power shortage. Except gujrat no other state is able to provide 24 hrs electricity in summer so I don't think its a good idea, considering the fact that this year there may be below normal rainfall in western part of India as reported by met department and it may be a drought prone year.
Lack of affordable fuel has forced many power producers in Pakistan to operate at a fraction of their installed capacity since 2008. It has led to widespread load-shedding in the country, seriously hurting its economy. Similar situation now appears to be developing in India as well with soaring cost and shortage of coal, although it's not quite as serious as Pakistan's current crisis yet.
India burns coal to produce 55 percent of its electricity needs. Domestic coal production has increased just 1 percent last year while 11 percent additional power generation capacity has been installed. Some power producers have been importing coal, but that option has become more untenable recently because India’s biggest supplier, Indonesia, has doubled coal prices, according to a report in New York Times.The gap between demand and supply in India has increased to 10.2 percent last month, from 7.7 percent a year earlier. In some states like Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, power cuts have become so common that many factories report getting more electricity from diesel generators than they do from the power grid, at much higher cost.
http://www.riazhaq.com/2012/04/affordable-fuel-shortage-hurts-power.html
good. now we can have pakistan at our mercy.