Author of this article is Kamran Iqbal. He was a student of Electrical Department in NEDUET Karachi.
For the development of any country, it must be self-sufficient in power resources. Unless and until there is an adequate progress in the power sector, progress in other sectors is very difficult i.e. almost impossible!
Unfortunately our country Pakistan is facing acute shortage of power besides other problems. This problem is adversely affecting the economic growth of the country as well as commercial and domestic life. There are numerous reasons behind the power crisis :
1) Due to political point scoring and narrow mindedness of some illiterate people, the previous as well as the present government could not make any arrangement to enhance the power generation.
2) The gap between demand and supply also widened due to the growing needs of people and increase in population. As a result the short fall of electricity increased to a considerable level
3) After the privatization of KESC, its new administration is taking full advantage of monopoly. According to some KESC personnel, the shortfall is not so serious but it has been artificially created in order to save the cost of furnace oil.
4) Due to lack of proper maintenance generating units frequently shut down. The problem further aggravates due to laziness of the concerned staff.
5) As there is already acute shortage of electricity, the use of UPS in 50% houses further increases the load on the outdated units. Thus it increases the load requirements by half times of the total load!
6) The illegal connections in some localities are also a big cause. In many far-off areas, there are lots of street lights in series on roads. Such a large number of lights in far off areas sound illogical as they remain open from night to noon which is a mere wastage of power.
As the factors are numerous, therefore they also require numerous steps in order to overcome this growing crisis, which is listed below:
1) The government should construct dams, power plants, nuclear power plants & hydel projects. The choice of a project may vary according to cost and feasibility requirements. Also, the costal belt of Karachi is a suitable place for the installation of cheap wind turbines.
2) The industries and commercial sector should be encouraged to generate their own power. In this regard the tax on the self production of electricity should be withdrawn. In case of extra amount of electricity, the industries should be allowed to sell electricity to the general public .
3) The use of UPS should be banned because it increases the load during normal operation while charging. Instead the use of generators should be encouraged.
4) The pre-paid system should be introduced instead of post-paid. It will be helpful in the sense that people will become careful and avoid wastage of electricity. Also they will increase or decrease the load according to their own requirements.
5) In addition there should be trained hard-working staff willing to work hard. For this, they must be given a handsome salary. Also the illegal connections should be firmly dealt with & heavily fined. Now instead of looting this fine, it should be utilized to purchase more furnace oil for power generation. The top management should be replaced with some able and creative decision makers so that they come up with a new spirit and enthusiasm!
These are the suggestions by a young and intelligent electrical engineer which must be taken into account if we want to come out of this power crisis!!!!
Reeshof
Good one really awakeining form your nation.