China pops the champagne on the commissioning of nuke plant in Pakistan

The 340MW Chashma-III plant will add 600MW to the grid.

The commissioning of Chashma-III nuclear plant will help ease power supply issues in Pakistan and also serves to highlight China's strengthening footprint in Pakistan's power sector, according to BMI Research.

The inauguration of the plant boosts China's nuclear expansion plans, paving the way for Chinese nuclear technology to be exported to more developing markets.

The 340MW Chashma-III nuclear power plant in Pakistan was successfully commissioned at the end of December 2016 by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission and China National Nuclear Corporation.

Here's more from BMI Research:

The China Atomic Energy Authority and the Export-Import Bank of China provided technical and financial support for the scheme and once the second unit is also commissioned (due in 2017), the Chashma nuclear facility will add 600MW to the grid.

This boost in power capacity will help ease power supply shortages in Pakistan, which have stemmed from a narrowing of the supply/demand margin.

The commissioning of the Chashma-III plant is in line with the Pakistani government's wider aim of targeting 8GW of nuclear power capacity by 2025.

Although we believe this target is overambitious, we do expect Pakistan's nuclear sector to gradually expand over the coming decade, reaching around 3.5GW by 2026 and contributing over 8% to total power capacity in 2026, up from an estimated 3% in 2015.