Twenty Pakistani engineers from power generation companies around the country were presented with certificates of completion after participating in a thermal operations and maintenance training  program funded  by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) at a ceremony in Islamabad on April 10.  The course is designed to help engineers further develop their technical skills and provide them with industry best practices in order to improve the operation, maintenance, and management of power plants.

 

Organized by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Energy Policy Program, the training program is an important component of a broader power sector capacity building project.  The program is part of the U.S. government’s commitment to support the government of Pakistan in its efforts to increase power generation and improve energy efficiency, transmission, fuel supply infrastructure, and policy reform efforts in the country.

 

Acting Director of USAID’s Office of Energy Tim Moore who presided over the certificate ceremony, stated “the U.S. government is committed to working with the Pakistani government to develop and upgrade Pakistan’s energy infrastructure.”     

 

U.S. government energy sector assistance in Pakistan aims to increase electricity output throughout the country by adding an expected cumulative total of 1400 megawatts to Pakistan's national power grids by the end of 2014, benefiting about 16 million people.  As part of this program, the U.S. has funded renovations at Tarbela, Jamshoro, Mangla, Guddu, and Muzaffargarh power plants, aided the completion of Gomal Zam and Satpara dams, and helped improve power distribution throughout Pakistan. These efforts have already added more than 1000 megawatts of power to Pakistan’s power system.