Eni New Energy Pakistan has developed a 10 MW solar power plant at the Bhit gas field to reduce reliance on gas-fired turbines and lower carbon emissions. The solar installation, which features a single-axis PV system, has increased energy generation capacity by 15% and created around 440 jobs during construction. This project is notable for being the first synchronization of a solar plant with gas turbines in Pakistan's gas upstream sector.

1. Eni New Energy Pakistan
Eni Bhit Gas Field is located 180 km north of Karachi in the Kirthar region of
Pakistan. The gas field forms the boundary between the lower Indus plain to the
east and Baluchistan to the west. The region receives a favorable sun irradiation
through most of the year.
Eni, through its’ subsidiary Eni New Energy Pakistan, partnered with Reon on the
10 MW Solar Power Plant to reduce the employment of gas-fired power turbines
by partially shifting the load to Solar Energy, and subsequently reducing carbon
emissions.
The single-axis Solar PV plant (42 panels on a single array) has improved the
annual energy generation capacity by 15% as compared to a traditional PV plant.
The Solar plant created approximately 440 jobs (150 from the local community)
during construction and 14 permanent skilled and semi-skilled jobs.
Design and Execution
The start-up was achieved within 6 months of the Final Investment Decision (FID)
out of which the on-ground installation time frame was of 60 days. This was done
so to achieve the Plant synchronization with the gas turbines during Eni annual
maintenance shutdown of Oct 2019 (the next shutdown was then expected in April
2020).
The Plant has been divided into 4 chunks of 2.5 MW and the energy evacuated is
fed into the Eni grid. This is the first such synchronization at 11 kva in the gas
upstream sector in Pakistan.
The photovoltaic plant works in full zeal with the existing power generation
system of Bhit gas treatment plant, optimizing operational costs with the shutdown
of one of the existing gas turbines.
The article was originally published on Reon Energy – Eni New Energy Pakistan