Historical report on crises of Public Electricity Corporation *

Public Electricity Corporation (PEC) is the sole public utility with a mandate for the generation, transmission, distribution and sale of electricity in the country.  The national grid consists of steam power generating stations located in Houdiedah, Taiz and Aden governorates. The generated power is stepped up to 132 kV and transmitted via 132 kV transmission lines to 132/33 kV substations installed at or near Major cities in Yemen. Current power stations in the national grid produce 850 MW maximum powers while the current maximum demand is 1015 MW. Therefore a daily maximum disconnected load is 260 MW (distributed in all governorates connected to the national grid).

Most base-load generation capacity is very old,
Total generation capacity cannot supply full load requirements,
Transmission and distribution systems are overloaded, and
System power loss is out of norm

There are a lot of figures show different aspects of the crises and there are several reasons for daily cut off supply on citizens indicate that the PEC failed to tackle its responsibilities. First,   PEC failed in achieving its mission which is “Achievement of national master plan for social and economic developments through the contribution in improving citizens living by production increasing and services improving in generation, transmission and distribution of electrical energy” 

 
PEC also failed in achieving its goals which are, producing, transmitting and distributing of electrical energy in all sides of Yemen in economical and optimal techniques. In addition to erecting and managing all constructions of generating and transmitting and distributing electrical energy

 
Developing and exploitation of natural springs in Yemen for producing the electrical energy and technical supervising on generating plants, substations, and electrical networks for technical standards and safety verification are also from the PEC goals in addition to increasing of  workers skills and workers capabilities based on  training to qualified them for implanting the constructions , operation and maintenance, plus preparing  the researches and studies for improving and evaluating all activities concerning the generation, transmission and distribution of electrical energy.

 
PEC also  lose its tools for targets implementation like preparing master plans for achievement all PEC responsibilities, Observance of operative orders, laws,  providing apparatus , tools , and spare parts  in the definite time and storing  them  economically  and correctly. Also field in made a framework arranging for all work activities and providing human resources for implementing the work.

 
PEC failed in building its institutional Framework where the policy for reforming the electricity sector of Yemen, including the Public Electricity Corporation (PEC), was articulated by the Government of Yemen   in the Power Sector Development Strategy Note of April 1997.  In 2002 to carry the reform program forward, the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) retained the Arthur Andersen Company to carry out the Institutional and Organizational Study which included formulation of a strategy recommendation for the future development of the power sector and an implementation plan for the execution of the chosen strategy.

 
The operation difficulties that PEC faces are, Voltage level is very low, Demand is greater than generation by 25%, Unreliable  networks and the old type steam generation units ( Ras Katnib P/S in 1982, Mukha P/S in 1987, Hiswa P/S in 1990 )

 
Also the protections are not well coordinated like the last report about protection settings for Sana’a System that has been prepared in May 1983 by Kennedy & Donkin. Repeated Events occurred in PEC systems indicated to malfunctioning of   protection.

 
In addition to, the Incomplete monitoring system (SCADA) and Lines and Transformers are overloaded

 
PEC also neglected training of its engineers, as the only two main training programs are implemented were Training Programs in the 1970’s & 1980’s had mainly concentrated on Technician Training and the training program in the period 1997 to 1999, the Technician/Engineering staff ratio was only 3.5/1.

 
Currently, there is a training program component within the power Sector project (2006-2011), and it has not been implemented until writing this article.

 
And the most important goals that PEC failed achieved is to serve people as the PEC electrifies about 40 % of people in rural areas and 80% in the urban. Electricity has been cut off from electrified people two or three times per day at two or three hours at once.

  Using Gas Turbine for Electricity in Yemen,
 Who is the responsible for cost of delay?*

The beginning was with first study mentioned installing a Gas turbines, has been prepared  by Kennedy & Donkin Consultant  in May 1980 as  back up generators  during system disturbance due to the  quick start up advantage of the gas turbine . The study was a   proposal for 12 years Plan (1980-1992). This plan included erection of Houdeidah Gas Turbine 1*15 MW, 1984 and   al-Mukha Gas Turbine 1* 15 MW.

 
In 1984, Yemen Hunt Oil Company completed drilling the first productive oil well, and the first oil field was declared commercial in 1985. In 1990, level of production was 140,000 barrels per day.  In addition to oil discoveries, large reserves of natural gas estimated to be 300 billion cubic meters have been discovered.

 
In 1990, the World Bank energy strategy review provides an analysis of a number of natural gas pipelines options to supply power generation, industry, and eventually the domestic sector. This review was based on a study conducted by Gas Union on natural gas utilization. According to the World Bank all considered options were considered to be economically attractive except the generation of electricity near the gas fields in Marib and electric transmission to the national grid.

 
In 1992, a feasibility study for 180 MW Gas turbines and associated transmission facilities has been conducted by Overseas Bechtel, Incorporated Company. This study had been funded by the United States Trade Development Program.  The amount of gas mentioned above is adequate to support the proposed 180 MW Gas Turbine power station for 600 years.

 
In 1993, there were several estimations of gas in Marib Basin. The estimation from discovered but undeveloped gas fields as 12 TCF.

 
In 2000, accordance to the potential of gas mentioned above and taking into account The YLNG project was estimated to require 7.4 TCF over 25 years period leaving between 2.5 – 5 TCF for other purposes, the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW), retained the PB company to carry out  Gas and Electricity Master Plan and Transmission Master Plan. The conclusion of these plans are that the linkage between the YLNG project and the pipeline to Sana’a should be dropped and the initial investment should be at Marib  for installing 700 MW gas turbines. The transmission programme associated with this gas development requires the construction of a 400 kV system and the interconnection of the Eastern Region of Yemen.

 
In 2001, there were instruction from the President Ali Abdullah Saleh,  a proposed plan about enhancement of Power generation and Distribution network  prepared by  the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW). In this plan, the recommendation was that installing 300 MW gas turbines in Marib as first phase with associated 400 kV line from Marib to Sana’a.  The estimated cost of this project figured out as 245 million USD.  The period of Gas turbines erection should be 29 months (turbines should be in service in Oct. 2003). In this plan, the saving amount has been figured out as 561 million USD for five years ( 2001-2005) in the case 300 MW gas turbines in Marib are operated and  1,328 million USD will be saved in case of 700 MW gas turbines put in service for the five years(2001-2005).

 
BUT Project Dairy about Marib 300 MW Gas Turbine Power Station  has been prepared by the Project Management Unit of the PEC  in the mid of 2003. The Dairy included the project completion schedule that is expected to sign a contract with the PEC contractor late in 2003 and the commercial operation of the gas turbines should be in 2006. Siemens company has awarded the contract to erect the gas power station with 340 MW.  The Gas power station in Mareb has been completed in mid 2009 but the associated transmission systems that have been awarded to Korean and Persian companies have not been completed yet. It is expected that during two months Gas power station will be committed to the national grid.

 
Since 1984 to 2009 Gas still not useful burning while dark spreads out Yemenis homes. Who is the responsible?

 
*This report is based on information obtained from Dr. Gamal Hazza. He is an associate professor in Faculty of Engineering, Sana’a University, Former Vice Dean of Engineering Faculty, Former consultant with the PEC. He is currently a local Consultant with Econoler International Company

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