The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) allowed on Tuesday a 26 paisa per unit increase in power tariff for consumers of nine distribution companies of Wapda from August 31 on account of monthly fuel cost adjustment.
A Nepra official told Dawn that power companies had sought an increase of 52 paisa per unit under the fuel adjustment formula for July.
But the power regulator allowed an increase 26 paisa and turned down the rest sought on account of system losses, late payments and overall circular debt.
The official said that Nepra had sent its determination to the federal government for notification. The new tariff will be recovered from consumers in the next billing month. The new tariff will not apply to KESC whose fuel-based tariff adjustment will be made separately.
The government is facing difficulties in unloading oil consignments from ships because of port congestion and infrastructure limitations, resulting in supply shortages in flood affected areas of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Northern parts of the country.
Sources in the petroleum ministry told Dawn on Monday that the country’s oil consumption had dropped by about 50 per cent after the recent floods as transport activities had substantially slumped because of damage caused to the road infrastructure.
They said the stocks of petroleum products diesel, furnace oil and petrol were enough for more than 28 days of the country’s usual requirement but transportation problems were resulting in short supplies in many parts of the country, particularly in Sindh and Gilgit-Baltistan.
As reported by Stanford News, a new solar energy conversion process discovered by Stanford engineers could revamp solar power production. This
process simultaneously combines the light and heat of solar radiation to generate electricity could offer more than double the efficiency of existing solar cell technology, say the Stanford engineers who discovered it and proved that it works. The process, called “photon enhanced thermionic emission,” or PETE, could reduce the costs of solar energy production enough for it to compete with oil as an energy source.
In our last post on the Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG); we discussed that LPG when mixed with air in right proportion, gives a perfect replacement for Natural Gas. While mentioning, the potential opportunities SNG can provide we said that Industries can use it as an alternate/back-up gas during the Natural Gas (NG) shutdown or curtailments times. In this post we shall discuss the importance of this alternate gas for industries and its need in the coming times.
In Pakistan, NG crisis are no different than energy crisis. Earlier we had NG shutdown hours/days only in winters, now we even have them in summers. With this happening it is easily predicted that in coming times or not thinking of far in the coming winters the NG shortage is going to get worst.
Managing Director Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), Dr Faiz Ullah Abbasi, has affirmed this while addressing a recent business gathering. He has said the at the problems regarding the supply of gas in the coming winter would become more serious as compared to the last year, as the demand and supply gap has started to widen.
Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) is a blend of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Air that is a direct replacement source for Natural Gas. Working on the fundamentals of fuel interchangebility, the LPG-Air mix/blending is an invisible application of LPG not known to many.
The oppurtunities SNG, also known as Substitute Natural Gas, provides include:
Using it as an industrial back-up (during the Natural Gas shutdown/curtailments).
Using it a base fuel to serve area not under service of Natural Gas.
Using it to suppliment Natural Gas during peak demands known as peak shaving.
SNG is made by mixing the vapour LPG with air to a ratio of approximately 45% air and 55% LPG. Why mixing? Becasue LPG is a highly concentrated source of energy, with 2516 BTU’s per cubic foot gross heat content. Which is too rich to be used as a substitute for natural gas without dilution. If the Natural Gas and SNG have an indentical Wobbe Index, they will produce equivalent energies and will combust in the same amount of air. Thus the mixer blends in just the right amount of air and LPG; producing a mix of specific gravity 1.31 (1480BTU/Cu.Ft) and Wobbe Index that will match that of the Natural Gas.
This interchangeable use of SNG and NG makes it a powerful tool to startegically manage Natural Gas shortage. In the coming posts we will discuss the details of this strategy and technical aspects of SNG.
Recently WSJ published an article on a slightly different use of solar energy – to have hot water supply in a home. As the article states, you don’t need a super hot climate and tens of thousands of dollars to go solar. In many cases, all it takes to offset two-thirds of your hot water bill is a couple of panels resembling skylights, an 80-gallon water storage tank and some shade-free southern rooftop exposure. Costs range from about US $2,000 to $10,000,
