Pakistan intends to import an additional 100 MW of electricity from Iran as soon as a transmission line’s construction is complete.
Pakistan intends to import an additional 100 MW of electricity from Iran as soon as a transmission line’s construction is complete.
A 29-kilometer double-circuit transmission line from Polan to Gwadar has been built, according to Pakistan’s National Transmission and Despatch Company Limited (NTDC). This transmission system will have the capacity to bring 100 MW more from Iran.
Testing on Circuit-I of the transmission line was completed on February 6; Circuit-testing I was slated to take place on February 7. Through this transmission line, an additional 100 MW of power will start to be evacuated over the next few days.
The report stated that “this additional power import from Iran will be advantageous for the people of Gwadar and Makran divisions in terms of power sufficiency and reduction in load shedding, and will increase the confidence of the key business players and investors to tap the opportunities provided by the Gwadar region.”
The governments of Pakistan and Iran agreed to import 100 MW of extra electricity to meet Gwadar’s needs, and the deal was signed in June 2022. The city will receive more electricity from Iran beginning on March 1, according to the head of the Gwadar Development Authority.
Following a failure in the national electricity grid on January 23, power was lost in a number of areas of Pakistan. Power generation systems were temporarily shut down at night during the winter as a cost-saving measure to reduce fuel costs, according to Pakistan’s Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir, who also said that the breakdown was not a “major crisis.”
Pakistan has experienced two significant power outages since October 2022, both of which have occurred as the nation is currently experiencing an energy and economic crisis. In the meantime, the CPEC project anticipated that Iran would begin supplying gas to the Pakistani port of Gwadar in December 2022.
A portion of the Iran-Pakistan (IP) Gas Pipeline Project must be built on Iranian and Pakistani territory by February or March of 2024, or a $18 billion fine will be imposed.
Iran had already finished building its portion of the pipeline, and the Pakistani government declared in October 2022 that Islamabad was looking at various options for picking up the project again. Iran and Pakistan have made a number of moves in recent months to improve their energy cooperation.
The expansion of energy ties was a major topic of discussion when Iranian President and Pakistani Prime Minister met in Samarkand in mid-September 2022 as a prelude to the Shanghai Cooperation Summit (SCO).
Mohammad Ali Hosseini, the Iranian ambassador to Pakistan, stated in late October that Tehran was prepared to offer Islamabad gasoline, electricity, and natural gas at discounted prices to help the capital deal with the deteriorating situation.