GE Completes First Fire at Pakistan Gas Based Power Plant

GE and Harbin Electric International Company have completed the first fire and synchronization of GE’s H-class gas turbine at the 1.2-GW Balloki power plant in Pattoki, Punjab in Pakistan, GE said July 27.

GE has supplied two 9HA.01 gas turbines and one steam turbine with Harbin Electric as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partner for the project. The plant scheduled for commissioning later this year.

First fire is a critical test which sees the gas turbine switched on and operated with fuel at the site. The following step is synchronization, in which the unit is first connected to the national grid. The first 9HA gas turbine at Balloki is now delivering up to 380 MW of energy.

GE and Harbin Electric have also worked together at another Pakistani gas-fired power plant, Bhikki, which also runs on gas and will generate up to 1.2 GW. In addition to the 9HA gas turbines, Balloki power plant will have a primary re-gasified LNG fuel system, a secondary diesel fuel system, water cooled condensers and a cooling tower. The Bhikki plant was inaugurated by former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif in April this year. In the same month, the 525-MW Nandipur power plant, also in Punjab state, began running on regasified LNG. The plant previously ran on fuel oil.

LNG as fuel is gaining currency in Pakistan due to attractive global prices and dwindling supply of locally produced gas. The south Asian country started importing LNG a couple of years back and has one operational import terminal. A few more import terminals are expected to come up in coming years as LNG takes a bigger share in country’s energy mix.

Shardul Sharma