The FINANCIAL — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Pakistan on March 20 signed a $260 million loan agreement to improve Pakistan’s power transmission network.
The agreement was signed by Xiaohong Yang, ADB Country Director for Pakistan, and Syed Ghazanfar Abbas Jilani, Secretary of the Economic Affairs Division, at a ceremony in Islamabad. The signing was also witnessed by Werner Liepach, ADB Director General for Central and West Asia, according to ADB.
“A reliable and strong transmission network is essential to ensure uninterrupted supply of power for the industry and to propel economic growth,” said Mr. Liepach. “ADB remains committed to work with the Government of Pakistan to develop a larger, stronger, smarter, and climate resilient power transmission network.”
The agreement is part of the Second Power Transmission Enhancement Investment Program aimed to improve coverage, reliability, transparency, and quality of the power transmission service in Pakistan by expanding the 220-kV transmission network in Sindh and Balochistan provinces and upgrading the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and revenue metering systems (RMS) in the country.
Upgrading the SCADA and RMS across the national grid will enable real time monitoring and control of the grid, preventing losses, reducing power outages, and increasing grid stability and capacity. It will also feed computerized metering data complying with the grid code into the system for settlement of the market operator, the Central Power Purchasing Agency (Guarantee) Limited (CPPA-G), to streamline revenue collection, billing and payment processes, as well as create the foundation for an energy trading platform.
The power transmission network upgrade will also help offtake power from new and renewable power plants to the national grid and on the load centers enhancing Pakistan’s energy security.
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