Transmission Network Review in Pakistan

British Power International was appointed to work alongside the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) of Pakistan to identify the existing constraints of the transmission system, develop suitable network projects to remove those constraints and provide capacity for the projected demand. This included a technical, financial and economic evaluation of the projects, and importantly an assessment of the environmental and social impacts that each project would bring.

The 500kV and 220kV network in Pakistan has been under severe stress for many years. The transmission lines and the transformers have been running over and above their installed capacities, with little or no margin in their capacities to withstand any disturbances. BPI’s delivery of this project helped to finance the enhancement of the transmission capacity of the 500kV and 220kV network, which is the back-bone of the entire National Grid of Pakistan. Nineteen sub-projects were prepared for Phase 1 of the overall project, after BPI demonstrated that they fulfilled the technical, economic, financial, environmental and resettlement criteria to be fully eligible for approval by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), who were providing funds for the project.

Full technical studies, including load flow analysis and, where appropriate, short circuit level and transient stability analysis, were carried out to support each identified subproject. The technical studies confirmed that for each sub-project the proposals were technically valid and beneficial to the national transmission system. A technical feasibility summary of each sub-project was prepared along with environmental and resettlement plans as appropriate for approval by ADB. The technical analysis we carried out determined the scope of work of the sub-projects, detailed cost estimates and evaluated MW benefits to convert to financial benefits.

In view of the later than expected award of the contract, ADB asked us to deliver the project as a fast-track assignment, reducing the elapsed time of the project plan to meet the timescale agreed between the Government of Pakistan (GoP) and the Bank for processing this loan and enabling funded projects to start. This fast-track delivery required some rearrangement of the commitments of our team and a reschedule of work, so that some work was delivered out of country. This was achieved through flexibility on behalf of BPI, often working to very tight timescales.

Throughout the project we adopted a method of working which maximised the participation of counterpart staff and others with an interest in NTDC. Weekly briefing notes were prepared and weekly review meetings were held with NTDC to discuss progress, resulting in a free and informal exchange of information. This approach made it possible to meet tight deadlines and culminated in approval of project funding from the ADB, within the required timescales. A high level plan for the project was prepared, presented in the Inception Report and used as the prime project management document, ensuring that the interrelationships and target dates for outputs were met.

Whenever possible we involved NTDC staff in our work, for example when performing technical system studies to support identified sub-projects. As a result, local planning staff have achieved high levels of competence in performing system studies on transmission and distribution networks.

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Case Studies