Muhammad Mudassar

The successful launching of a third power plant with a capacity of 330 megawatts on the indigenous Thar coal will help Pakistan to generate cheap electricity and reduce import bill to save foreign exchange reserves, WealthPK reports.

After the installation of the third plant, the total capacity of the plants on indigenous Thar coal has reached 990 megawatts.

According to National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), the per unit cost of electricity generated through Thar coal was Rs14.41 per unit in August 2022. The per unit cost of electricity generated from furnace oil is Rs35, imported coal Rs23.6 and high-speed diesel Rs27.8 per unit while the cost of per unit electricity imported from Iran is Rs20.94.

The earlier installed 660 megawatts power plant on Thar coal had created 3,000 jobs during construction and 4,300 jobs after it was made operational. The recently-approved projects will also generate a lot of jobs.

Dr Athar Mansoor, an energy expert said in a podcast that presently Pakistan was not ready to make the transition to a sustainable energy system. It is evident that a transition is needed in Pakistan, but the country first requires to improve its economy as a huge amount of funds will be required to make the transition successful.

He said that Thar coal could be also converted into gas and liquid to utilise by other industries like cement and fertiliser. Pakistan has 175 billion tonnes of coal reserves in Tharparkar alone, equivalent to 50 billion tonnes of oil equivalent, which is more than Saudi Arabian and Iranian oil reserves. The coal reserves are equal to 2,000 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas, 68 times higher than Pakistan’s total gas reserves.

Pakistan should rely on local coal resources for the generation of power to ensure sustainable economic growth in the future. Due to the heavy reliance on imported fuel, power losses are increasing day by day because the cost of imported fuel has increased significantly during the past few years.

The government is often compelled to announce a subsidy on electricity to curb the massive hike in power tariffs and reduce the burden on consumers. However, owing to a lack of funding, the government is unable to pay the amount of subsidy to the relevant authorities. It contributes to the circular debt, which has reached Rs1.5 trillion.

The government should utilise Thar coal resources for power generation to reduce circular debt as well as import bills. The generation of cheap electricity in the country will enable industries to get access to a reliable source of energy at a reasonable rate.

The cost of energy is one of the most significant factors in the manufacturing of industrial products. The generation of cheap electricity will reduce the cost of production as well as boost the export of different goods from Pakistan, according to information gathered by WealthPK.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk