Competitiveness of Wind Power with the Conventional Thermal Power Plants Using Oil and Natural Gas as Fuel in Pakistan

The fossil fuels mainly imported oil and natural gas are major sources of electricity generation in Pakistan. The combustion of fossil fuels in thermal power plants has greater environmental impacts like air pollution and global warming. Additionally, the import of oil is a heavy burden on the poor economy of the country. Pakistan is a country with huge renewable sources; wind energy being the major one. This paper elucidate the cost-competitiveness of wind power with the conventional thermal power plants. In this regard, Levelized estimated cost of a 15MW wind power plant is compared with three types of conventional thermal power plants, namely (i) Oil-fired thermal power plant (ii) Natural gas-fire combine cycle power plant (iii) Diesel oil- fired gas turbine cycle 100MW each. The results show that the cost of wind energy is lowest with Rs. 3/kWh. It is concluded that the wind power is cost-competitive to the conventional thermal power plants in Pakistan. The cost estimation for wind energy is lowest of all others with Rs. 3/kWh.