Islamabad May 19 2023: Pakistan power generation in April fall for the eleventh straight month by 22.8 percent to 10,010 gigawatt hours (GWh) from 12,960 GWh a year ago, according to data shared by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA).
During the first ten months of fiscal year 2023 power generation dip by 9.7 percent to 103,592 GWh from 114,660 GWh in the same period last year. Power generation decline due to lower demand from industries and residential consumers as economy slowdowns and electricity prices jump significantly.
The LSMI output, used to measure industrial activity in Pakistan, decreased by 24.99% for March, 2023 when compared with March, 2022 and 9.09% when compared with February 2023. This decline was attributed to various factors, including synchronized policy measures to address imbalances, disruption in supply chain and global recessionary pressures, says Ministry of Finance in its note.
However, electricity generation is increased 14.5 percent from 8,741 GWh from the previous month due to higher temperature.
Power generation on coal decline by 16.2 percent to 1,819 GWh when compared with the same month last year. Coal power generation in the country peaked at 2,917 GWh in April last year before sliding back to 975 GWh in November 2022. The per-unit fuel cost of electricity generation on Coal is PKR 12.27 in April versus PKR 23.14 of RFO and PKR 23.83 of RLNG, data showed.
In the last five years Pakistan has aggressively pursued coal power under the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative as well as outside it, increasing coal-based capacity from negligible to 6,600 megawatts. With four other coal-based projects under construction, the country expects to add 2,610 megawatts by the end of 2026.
Power generation on RLNG decreases 3.9 percent to 2,418 GWh when compared with the same month last while gas based generation decrease by 6.8 percent to 1,189 GWh when compared with the same month last year.
Generation of electricity from Nuclear decline by 14.9 percent to 1,916 GWh when compared with generation of 2,251 GWh in the same month of last year. The fuel cost of generation on Nuclear is PKR 1.06 per unit which was lowest among all thermal based source.
Solar based power generation increased by 44.1 percent to 126 GWh while on wind decreased by 30.5 percent to 323 GWh during the month of April 2022 when compared with same month last year.
