USAID strengthens Pakistan’s energy sector

ISLAMABAD, AUG 26 (DNA+  The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Power Distribution Program is strengthening Pakistan’s energy sector to improve the supply and distribution of power.

In this effort, the USAID Power Distribution Program is training the staff of government-owned power distribution companies (DISCOs)s in power load management, which will eventually help in reducing unscheduled load shedding.

In this context, the USAID Power Distribution Program organized a two-day training session for Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) officials in Islamabad.

CEO IESCO Engr. Muhammad Yousaf Awan and Deputy Director USAID’s Energy Office Tim Moore distributed certificates among the training’s participants. The training was attended by 25 IESCO officers including Executive Engineers (XENs), Sub divisional Officers (SDOs) and Chief Engineer (CE) Transmission & Generation levels.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Power Distribution Program has successfully implemented its “Load Data Improvement (LDI) Program” in DISCOs, aimed at minimizing unscheduled load shedding. Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) devices were installed on a fast-track basis in all DISCOs.

The project also included the upgrade of each DISCO’s Power Distribution Center (PDC) and accordingly IESCO’s PDC was upgraded and made functional on May 30, 2013, with live data now being acquired from all of its grid stations and outgoing feeders.

The National Power Control Center (NPCC) supplies electricity to DISCOs which then distributes it to the end consumer. Previously, the actual load data on incoming and outgoing feeders of grid stations was read manually by operators and transmitted telephonically to the DISCO’s PDC.

This information was then manually transmitted to the NPCC for generation dispatch, in a process that was both time-consuming and opened the information to easy manipulation, with a distinct absence of accountability and oversight. Currently, under USAID’s LDI Program, the IESCO PDC is outfitted with multiple screens displaying live load data by grid substation and feeder.

Power factor information is also displayed indicating when capacitor banks should be deployed to improve the voltage level.

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