ISLAMABAD: The prevailing energy crisis in the country will be overcome by 2018 as production capacity of electricity will rise above 33,000 megawatts, more than the demand of 25,961MW.
Water and Power Secretary Younus Dagha, while talking to media, has said that in the total production, hydroelectric power will have a 28pc share, followed by furnace oil-based electricity at 17pc and liquefied natural gas-based power at 15pc. Local natural gas-powered electricity will contribute 12pc, imported coal 10pc, renewable energy sources and nuclear power 8pc each and local coal 2pc.
The secretary said that that loadshedding hours would come down to four in urban centres and stand at eight hours for rural areas in December 2016, which would be further cut to two and three hours for urban and rural areas respectively in June 2017. Later, outages would come to an end in January 2018, he said.
Dagha claimed that production capacity would be 19,917MW against demand for 23,107MW between June and November 2016. From December 2016 to April 2017, the capacity will rise to 21,599MW and further go up to 25,080MW in June 2017. In December 2017, the capacity will stand at 27,600MW and in June 2018, it will be 30,938MW whereas demand will be 25,961MW and availability at 26,590MW. He stressed that electricity transmission and distribution losses had come down to the lowest in the past 10 years at 18pc in 2015. Its positive financial impact has been estimated at Rs10 billion.
