NTDC commissions all-new load dispatch system

KARACHI: National Transmission & Despatch Company Limited (NTDC) has awarded a project for an all-new Load Dispatch System (LDS) to support the country’s sustainable energy goals, it said on Friday.

The contract has been given to a consortium comprising China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) and Hitachi ABB Power Grids, according to an official statement.

It said the LDS system would help improve grid visibility and automation, enabling seamless integration of renewables.

Pakistan is aiming to increase the contribution of renewable energy from four percent today to thirty percent by 2030. The intermittent nature of solar and wind energy production means that an increasing share of renewables requires greater observability, real-time monitoring, remote control and optimisation of the power grid.

Azaz Ahmad, Managing Director, NTDC, said this hallmark project, financed by ADB (Asian Development Bank), would open new horizons through automation and sustainable international best practices to achieve a safe and reliable grid.

“The project will bring more visibility and control to NTDC's operations, enhancing system stability and curtailing system collapse and blackouts incidents in future,” said the NTDC chief.

Najeeb Ahmed, Country Managing Director Hitachi ABB Power Grids in Pakistan, said it was incredibly exciting to support Pakistan’s giant leap toward a sustainable, carbon-neutral future.

“The national LDS project is the culmination of several years of engagement with NTDC to understand its current and future needs and to deliver a project that is complex, geographically and technically,” Ahmad added.

He Wei, Deputy General Manager of Complete No.1 Plants Division of CMEC said the current SCADA system did not cater to the ever-expanding network, and an upgrade was essential to efficiently manage the new generation capacity.

“With the implementation of the SCADA Phase 3 system enhancement programme, 4,085 kilometer of OPGW (optical ground wire) will be installed as the main communication channel alongside a microwave network serving the purpose of backup communication system to ensure control and command, Wei said.