The hidden costs of the gas-to-power projects are slowly bubbling up: GPL has to find 50 MW of heavy fuel oil generation; and they are looking for some other company to deliver seamless connections without transmission and distribution problems.
GPL is caught in an inefficiency trap, because it still only aims to deliver electricity at 80% power factor, and consumers are allowed to operate at unbelievably lower power factors. I also notice that the many transformers required in this system seem to have no maintenance. Moisture and oxidation are unchecked until the transformer bangs out to indicate replacement. There seems to be a normal state of emergency in running things. The gas-to-power project panders to these inefficiencies and lets GPL off the hook. One day the gas will be finished; what then?
The immediate answer is to invest instead in solar power beginning with the new housing areas being built. Let people manage their own electric power. 10,000 new homes can be comfortably powered with 50 MW, for which there will be no technical and ‘commercial’ losses. Get rid of the old power line mentality, the inefficiencies and instabilities of which subject us to unreliable electricity.
Yours faithfully,
Alfred Bhulai
