Bayat Gas-Fired Power Plant

The Bayat gas-fired power plant being built in Sheberghan, Jowzjan Province, is the first natural gas power project in Afghanistan since the 1970s. Planned to be built in three phases with an estimated investment of $250m, the plant will have a generation capacity of more than 200MW.

The first phase of the Bayat power project will be owned and operated by Bayat Power, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bayat Energy. The phase one, which is 100% equity-financed, is expected to commence operations in 2019.

At full capacity, the power plant is expected to electrify approximately 700,000 Afghan households a year over its estimated operational life of 20 years.

Bayat Energy received the final approval from the Government of The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) for the construction of the first phase of the power plant in April 2018.

The Bayat gas-fired power project represents the first independent power producer (IPP) investment in the country, for which Bayat Energy signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Government of Afghanistan  in October 2016.

Bayat power gas-fired plant make-up

The first phase of Bayat gas-fired power plant will be installed with a SGT-A45 mobile gas turbine from  Siemens.

The 41MW gas turbine is a dual fuel (gas and liquid) turbine designed to operate at a rate of 9,260kJ/kWh and a rotor speed of 3,000rpm, and generate electricity at a frequency of 50Hz.

The exhaust gas flow and temperature for the turbine are 127kg/s and 477°C respectively, while the start-up time of the turbine is eight minutes.

SGT-A45, based on the Aero Engine technology provided by Rolls Royce, is the world’s most powerful mobile gas turbine.

Bayat will be the world’s first power plant to deploy the SGT-A45 gas turbine.

Gas supply for the Bayat power plant

The natural gas for the power plant will be procured from the Sheberghan/Yatimtaq regions in Northern Afghanistan region, which is estimated to hold approximately 15.7 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas.

Northern Afghanistan is home to Jarquduk, Khoja Gogerdak, Yatimtaq, Khoja Bolan, Juma/Bashikurd, and Shakarak gas fields.

Electricity transmission and power purchase agreement

The electricity generated from the Bayat power plant will be fed to the North-East Power System (NEPS) of Afghanistan’s national grid through 110kV transmission lines.

Afghanistan’s national power company Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat will be responsible for evacuating the power generated from the plant.

The Bayat power plant will initially serve the Faryab, JawzJan, Sar-e-Pul, and Andkhoy districts of Afghanistan.

Bayat Energy entered a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Government of Afghanistan in April 2018 for off-taking 40MW from the Bayat power plant phase one.

Contractors involved

Siemens was contracted for supplying the  mobile aero-derivative SGT-A45 mobile gas-turbine for the first phase of the Bayat power plant, in March 2019.

Siemens had earlier signed a MoU with Bayat Energy for providing the gas turbines for the plant in November 2017.

Green Tech Construction and Engineering was involved in the environmental and social impact assessment study of the Bayat phase one power project.

Afghanistan’s energy mix

Afghanistan is mostly dependent on imported electricity, as the country’s installed generation capacity is yet to reach 600MW.

It imports more than 1,000MW of electricity from the neighboring countries including the Islamic Republic of Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

The domestic electricity production of the country is dominated by hydropower plants (49%) followed by thermal and diesel power plants that contribute 39% and 12% of electricity, respectively.

Afghanistan is expected to witness a gross electricity demand of 18,409GWh by 2032, which is planned to be met through the construction of new power projects, including the Bayat gas-fired power plant and the Mazar-e-Sharif gas-fired power project.