Report by Engineering Post
Pakistan is blessed with a vast 175 billion ton Thal Coal Reserve, which was quite sufficient to provide a cost-effective and indigenous fuel optio for base load power generation for decades to come.
According to the information available from the official quarters concerned, so far, five Thar Coal-based Independent Power Producers (IPPs) of 3300 MW have been commissioned through Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB), which are now providing inexpensive electricity to the national grid. These projects include 1320 MW Thar Coal Block-1 Company (Shanghai) at Thar Block-1; 660 MW Engro Power Project at Thar Block-11; 660 MW Lucky Electric Project at Port Qasim; 330 MW Thar Energy Limited Project at Thar Block-11, and; 330 MW ThalNova project at Thar Block-11.
Nevertheless, there was still a very dire need for increasing Thar’s coal potential as much as possible for meeting the country’s electricity and energy needs. In this regard, the Federal Government had already imposed a moratorium on the processing of new imported fuel-based power projects since 2016 . Due to the increased prices of imported coal in the international market, the Federal Government has taken the initiative to substitute imported coal-based IPPs with Thar coal. Subsequently, efforts at the appropriate high level were underway for starting blending Thar coal by three imported coal-based IPPs with a cumulative capacity of 3960 MW which have since been implemented under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) regime, namely 1320 MW Sahiwal Coal Power project located in Sahiwal; 1320 MW Port Qasim Coal Power Projected located at Port Qasim ,Karachi, and; 1320 MW Hub Coal Project located at Hub.
