PSCE equips power sector officials with vital knowledge of transmission planning

A three-day Module-II of Training on Transmission Planning for the officers and engineering professionals of newly established Market Implementation and Regulatory Affairs Department (MIRAD) of Distribution Companies (DISCOs), National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), and National Power Control Center was arranged under the banner of the Power Sector Centre of Excellence (PSCE) established at LUMS. 

PSCE is a training and knowledge hub founded jointly by Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA-G) and the LUMS Energy Institute. The training was attended by 50 participants. Module-II was a continuation of Module-I of the programme, where key activity areas of Transmission Planning were deliberated. Participants were given intensive knowledge about Power System Studies, Network Planning, and Expansion techniques and strategies according to the global best practices. The training was imparted through the Power System Simulator for Engineering (PSS/E), a globally used and acclaimed software for Power System Studies. Before the start of Module-II, newly selected participants of MIRADs were imparted a separate advanced level training on the use of PSS/E by the resources from CPPA-G.

Modernizing Pakistan’s electricity infrastructure and power sector professionals is one of the top priorities under the envisaged Competitive Trading Bilateral Contracts Market (CTBCM) regime. Transmission Planning is one of the key ingredients to an Integrated System Plan that serves as a blueprint for building a reliable and secure electricity grid. It maps out strategies to expand and reinforce the transmission system to support future load growth and generation development. Without continuous and overarching improvements and upgrades over the coming years, our nation’s transmission system will fall short of the reliability standards our growing economy requires. The introduction of modern tools, techniques, and approaches will improve system monitoring, visualization, control, and operations as required under the competitive electricity market framework. This will ultimately modernize the electricity transmission system to ease congestion, allow for an increase in demand, provide a greater degree of system security and reliability, and reduce costs for the ratepayers.

A key strategic focus of the training was to better integrate the newly formed MIRAD, at all 10 DISCOs, with all the power sector entities. MIRAD will play a key role in transmission planning and demand forecasting under the competitive electricity market, which will start operations in May 2022.

The DISCOs have already prepared their own Demand Forecast. They shall use their Demand Forecast to prepare their Secondary Transmission and Grids Expansion Plan. The expansion plans of DISCOs, their Demand Forecasts along with the latest Integrated Generation Capacity Expansion Plan will enable NTDC to prepare the Transmission System Expansion Plan. In this way, NTDC and the newly created MIRADs of DISCOs will pave the way for Integrated System Planning, an exercise that has been missing in the sector for decades.