Page 12 - AsiaElec Week 26

AsiaElec NEWS IN BRIEF AsiaElec

SUPPLY 650,000 tonnes of LNG a year to feed its RENEWABLES
existing five gas-fired power plants.
K-Electric urged to improve we have a right to ask for a new shipping Japan’s NTT to invest $9bn
“If we have new gas-fired power plants,
power supply in Karachi licence to ship in additional gas volume,” said in 7.5GW of renewables
Preeyanart Soontornwata, B.Grimm Power’s
Expressing deep concerns over the poor president. Japanese telecoms giant NTT aims to invest
performance of K-Electric, Karachi Chamber Her company recently announced a plan JPY1 trillion ($9.3bn) in renewable energy
of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) President to establish its sixth power plant, with hybrid in a bid to decarbonise its operations and to
Agha Shahab Ahmed Khan has urged the power generation based on both LNG and break into a growing market.
utility service provider to immediately stop solar energy, supplying electricity to the NTT aims to raise its operational green
the ongoing spell of load shedding and focus Eastern Airport City at U-tapao airport in capacity from just 300MW at present to
on improving its infrastructure, particularly Rayong province. 7.5GW, and is interested in solar and both
power generation capacity and distribution The facility is designed to use gas as fuel to onshore and offshore wind, as well as
network, which were in a “terrible state”. produce 80 megawatts of electricity. developing its own transmission grid, Japan’s
He maintained that poor performance of B.Grimm Power is also designing an action Nikkei reported.
K-Electric has led to massive load shedding plan for its new, wholly owned LNG unit NTT aims to enter the power retail
in every nook and corner of the port city, established in May for LNG shipping business. sector, distributed either through existing
including its seven industrial zones. The plan includes a business deal with a infrastructure or via NTT-owned grids, to
In a statement issued on Saturday, Vietnamese partner on LNG and new power businesses and consumers directly.
Agha Shahab said industries in Karachi plant projects. The telecom group aims to group its
have suffered badly due to the outbreak of In November of last year, B.Grimm Power renewables activities into NTT Anode Energy,
coronavirus and the subsequent lockdown signed a memorandum of understanding with which it set up in 2019
of more than two months, adding that their Petrovietnam to jointly run LNG projects and The former state telecom monopoly
sufferings have multiplied further following build new LNG-powered plants to produce becomes the first company with the ability
prolonged load shedding by KE. 3,000MW of electricity. to operate on a national scale to enter Japan’s
“What is the motive behind carrying power distribution market since it was fully
out immense load shedding under such deregulated in 2016, Nikkei noted.
extraordinary circumstances?” he asked. “The In the transmission and distribution
unannounced and prolonged load shedding
by K-Electric will prove to be the final nail in
the coffin for the city’s businessmen.”
He said the inhabitants from various
localities of Karachi had asked KCCI to exert
pressure on the KE management so that
uninterrupted power supply in every area
could be ensured.
“K-Electric must adopt measures on war
footings to minimise the hardships being
suffered by the business community of
Karachi, a city that makes more than 70pc of
Pakistan’s total revenue,” he added.
The KCCI president further noted that
K-Electric has been earning huge profits of
billions of rupees every year but unfortunately,
it has not been adequately investing in
improving the dilapidated distribution
network.

GAS-FIRED GENERATION

B.Grimm aims for second
LNG licence for power plant

B.Grimm Power is to ask the government to
grant it a second licence to import liquefied
natural gas (LNG) as it is developing a new
gas-fired power plant.
In May, the firm was approved by the
Energy Regulatory Commission to import

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 26 01•July•2020