ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday decided in principle to close down about 2,900 megawatts of government-owned old power plants in two phases and get rid of ‘must-run’ status of three LNG-based plants in Punjab of about 3,900MW.
Under the decision, various units of about 1,400MW at four generation companies of ex-Wapda would be closed down immediately, followed by another 1,500MW of units by the year 2022.
These issues came up for discussion at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) presided over by Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar. The committee considered a proposal of the Power Division for shutting down low efficiency power plants.
After detailed deliberations, the committee “approved the proposal for closure of inefficient plants in a phased manner”, said an official statement. The committee directed the Power Division to work out the exact dates for closers of these power plants.
