Another imported coal-based plant in Punjab

[Captain77W]

WHy isnt Pakistan investing more on Hydro projects and Nuclear energy. You have so many rivers and enough Uranium.

Bacause you get more kickbacks while buying scrap coal power plants

Bacause you get more kickbacks while buying scrap coal power plants

Furthermore coal is one of the most deadly forms of power generation

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

They are approving "Imported" COAL beacuse there is a "CUT" for the facilitator once they approve it
The CUT money gets deposited overseas

 

[wiseone2]

They are approving "Imported" COAL beacuse there is a "CUT" for the facilitator once they approve it
The CUT money gets deposited overseas

It may be true.

But Pakistan does not produce much coal. The coal mined in Pakistan is of inferior quality

 

[Captain77W]

Coal is the past solar,wind,hydro and nuclear is what Pakistan needs to solve its energy crisis.

 

[DJ_Viper]

ISLAMABAD:

According to an advertisement of the Energy Department (Government of Punjab), yet another power plant based on imported coal has been approved.

A contractual instrument has been signed with a Chinese company. Many people in this country have raised eyebrows on it, to say the least. In my opinion it is a bad decision which will hurt them and hurt us all. Let me tell you why.

Siting power plants based on imported coal have been generally criticized for several reasons; imported coal will be transported from Karachi which would strain our Railway network, cause pollution and unseemly sights throughout its passage and will affect health and agricultural productivity. There is almost a consensus among experts that imported coal based power plants should be installed on sea coast and electricity be transported from Karachi rather than coal, which would be cleaner and possibly cheaper.

The counter argument popular in Punjab is that demand is high and growing. Hence, power plants should be situated near the load center to avoid congestion and investment in electricity transmission. Also, Punjab would like to be self-sufficient in energy production. The system has tried to meet and satisfy the demand of the Punjab government by approving several RLNG power plants, one after the other.

Recently, yet another RLNG based power plant has been approved, possibly (and vainly as has been proved by the approval of Rahim Yar Khan plant) to meet their requirements and assuage their worries. But nothing seems to have worked.

Interestingly enough, Rahim Yar Khan is a better site than Sahiwal where a coal power plant has been installed and is working already. And perhaps, if at all, coal power plant should have been located at Rahim Yar Khan first in the first place, as it is closer to Karachi and it would have been far less costly in financial, environmental, and railway congestion terms.

Another issue is that are we going to forget our Thar coal resources which most people have been craving for. Two coal power plants, one in Sahiwal and the other in Karachi, each of 1,320MW, should have been enough to meet the emergency. Further coal plants should have been planned and installed in Thar. It costs 4 US cents to produce one unit of electricity on imported coal and thus, one coal plant would be loading an annual import bill of $400 million.

Admittedly, this article and other efforts of this nature may not be successful in dissuading the government in going ahead with this project, although I would sincerely request them and urge them to reconsider it. I propose a compromise solution which is of changing the coal power plant design on the following lines.

The Rahim Yar Khan coal plant, others in Punjab and elsewhere should be CFBC based power plants ala Engro’s Thar coal power plants instead of Pulverized (PC) coal power plants that have been installed for imported coal.

This would enable them to use local Thar coal as well or a mixture of local and imported coal. The damage would thus be minimized.

Rahim Yar Khan, being on Sindh border, is close to Thar than any other site that is being considered in Punjab.

One could contemplate a direct road or rail link between Thar and Rahim Yar Khan and then onwards to Sahiwal. From Islamkot in Thar to Rahim Yar Khan, there is a distance of 700kms by car and 500kms in crow flight (point to point straight).

A special road link can be built or preferably a rail track. The same route can be used for taking the Thar coal to Sahiwal, in case Sahiwal coal power plant can be converted to Thar coal or a mix of imported and local. In some hard days when there would be foreign exchange problem, this solution can be handy. But solutions take time.

Punjab govt’s ‘Sahiwal power plant’ pictures stir controversy

I started with opposing the Rahim Yar Khan coal power plant proposal or decision and have ended up proposing compromise solutions reducing the pain and cost of swallowing this bitter decision of the relevant authorities. What can I do; justifying the mistake or reducing the potential cost of the mistake?

Unfortunately, Thar coal is fast losing ground soon after its inception. On the one hand, there is pressure from climate change and environmental consideration and there is competition from falling prices of Renewable Energy, and on the other hand there is the unfortunate role of the two provincial governments.

Punjab government is pursuing energy autonomy objectives almost like a separate country without realising its implications on foreign exchange. Sindh government continues to behave as a resource monopolist, little realising that times have changed.

They should in these circumstances act as resource marketers offering better terms and prices. Instead they keep insisting on Higher Returns such as IRR of 20% which reduces Thar coal competitiveness. Also, they are awarding one mining license after other without regard to market conditions. They should have waited till existing Engro mine is booked up to the optimum required capacity resulting in cost reduction.

Finally, a number of issues would have to be resolved before going ahead with such projects. There should be no hurry, already 10,000MW is in the pipeline and some pause can be taken without causing any short supply.

Some time can be spent for studies and sober thinking and evaluation. The Ministry of Water and Power has been opposing imported coal power plants, tooth and nail; reportedly, its secretary had been de- seated due to his opposition and the latest martyr is the NTDC managing director.

Secondly, there is confusion and controversy on the demand projections; there are views ranging from 4% RoG of pessimists to the 10% or even more being pushed by super-enthusiasts who foresee Pakistan becoming an ‘Asian Tiger’ very soon. The issue has to be resolved through genuine technical studies.

The Planning Commission had started some work on this issue and a few high level visits were made by the US Energy Information Administration. A PC-1 had also been approved, although after much delay and procrastination. The Commission is in some kind of limbo and dysfunction these days .They don’t manage to get the right persons despite several advertisements. They must put their act together and commission the proposed study.

Alternatively, a committee should be formed of governmental and non-governmental experts who should be able to develop some recommendations and projections in a period of three months. The committee may also examine the issue of debt servicing and paying capacity in order to recommend a viable programme resolving the current confusion and controversy.

Current imported coal tariff is due for reexamination (for new projects), as it had a life of two years. It is quite high in comparison to tariffs in the region(around 5 cents).

Balochistan gears up for 1,320MW coal-fired plant

It is about 8.5 cents plus rail transportation cost to site which would make it 9.5 cents. In my opinion, separate determinations should have been made for CPEC projects. In CPEC projects, there is no competition and thus CAPEX is naturally overstated (in the instant case by 30-40%). It should have been accompanied by lower ROEs as compared to the competitive bidding projects.

Instead, NEPRA raised the RoE to 16% instead of the normal 15%. IDC (interest during Construction) provisions can also be brought down due to smaller construction period of 24-30 months than provided in the upfront tariff. If the needed adjustments are made, imported coal power tariff can be brought down by 25%. In the new relaxed situation, there is scope for hard negotiations with Chinese in this respect and carve out special terms suiting the situation. NEPRA has to show some spine and shun relying on vendor supplied data.

Concluding, the Rahim Yar Khan power plant is a big mistake. Apparently, this is a victory of government of Punjab vis-à-vis federal institutions. But this victory would be an ultimate defeat as it would hurt them and hurt us all eventually. Would they desist from it, reading the afore-mentioned? I am not sure.

The writer has been member energy at the Planning Commission until recently

Published in The Express Tribune, July 17th, 2017.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/1459595/another-imported-coal-based-plant-punjab/

The last line gives it away. He is hurt, probably wasn't heard or didn't get commissions? As Pakistanis, you guys have to decide and use common sense. What's more important? Put your country onto a high growth path? Or spent next ten years in "discussing" how to better purify Coal or what to or not to buy?

In ten years, if your industries start to move your GDP to 7-9% after 2020, these plants will become nothing due t the cash inflows from economic growth. Meaning, the Coal can be converted over to combined cycle or hydro or gas for cheap. But by then, it would've done the trick, meaning would've helped in creating and supporting millions of jobs.

Also, a "strain" on the rail network is actually great. Meaning more rail routes, rail cars to be bought and built and more profit to come from that side too. Coal coming to ports through shipping means your ports will charge $$ to park the ship and for transportation. So things like these, effect millions of people and provide them with opportunities to make $$ and help grow an economy.

Sadly, in Pakistan, there are too many nay-sayers to anything good. China and India and many other growing countries have many coal based power plants. Never seen these many complaints, even though China had a fog issue. Pakistan is a much smaller and so is the need. It will never get to that point.

Coal isn't the past, Solar and Wind requires a lot of land. Pakistan is a smaller country with a lot of population, you'd be limited in building these solar plants. If this was the US or China, yes, sure, so much empty land is there, I'd say go for it. But Pakistan's core source of cheaper energy for the next 10 years should be Hydro, LNG, Coal and then a few Solar and Wind farms and then growth into those if certain areas can be identified.

Ideally, Pakistan should introduce solar panels for homes and the government should give Tax subsidy to implement those. That theoretically can cut down 30-40% of your electric needs as homes can run everything on Solar and only heavy stuff like the AC's would run on grid based electricity. So long term, this is a more practical solution.

 

[Captain77W]

^Dont forget that your "lovely" neighbor also generates a smog which blows into Pakistan every winter those coal plants will make it even worse than it already is.

Pakistan should develop in a sustainable manner if not we will experience the devastating effects of climate change a lot sooner

 

[Kabira]

Where the world is getting rid of coal based electricity, here corrupt politicians are cashing in hard on this polluted based energy.

I don't know why these corrupt bastards are failing to understand that Pakistan needs dams, solar & wind mill based electricity not coal based which only damages environment.

Solar isn't for punjab and it take to much agricultural land apart from maybe in desert of Cholistan where Bahawalpur solar plant is already working. Most of punjab land is good for agriculture. Solar power is great for far flung areas of Balochistan which are not connected to national grid.

 

[Captain77W]

Solar isn't for punjab and it take to much agricultural land apart from maybe in desert of Cholistan where Bahawalpur solar plant is already working. Most of punjab land is good for agriculture. Solar power is great for far flung areas of Balochistan which are not connected to national grid.

Pakistan has nukes so why not use them to generate electricity #NuclearPower furthermore the spent fuel makes great bombs

 

[HAIDER]

ISLAMABAD:

According to an advertisement of the Energy Department (Government of Punjab), yet another power plant based on imported coal has been approved.

A contractual instrument has been signed with a Chinese company. Many people in this country have raised eyebrows on it, to say the least. In my opinion it is a bad decision which will hurt them and hurt us all. Let me tell you why.

Siting power plants based on imported coal have been generally criticized for several reasons; imported coal will be transported from Karachi which would strain our Railway network, cause pollution and unseemly sights throughout its passage and will affect health and agricultural productivity. There is almost a consensus among experts that imported coal based power plants should be installed on sea coast and electricity be transported from Karachi rather than coal, which would be cleaner and possibly cheaper.

The counter argument popular in Punjab is that demand is high and growing. Hence, power plants should be situated near the load center to avoid congestion and investment in electricity transmission. Also, Punjab would like to be self-sufficient in energy production. The system has tried to meet and satisfy the demand of the Punjab government by approving several RLNG power plants, one after the other.

Recently, yet another RLNG based power plant has been approved, possibly (and vainly as has been proved by the approval of Rahim Yar Khan plant) to meet their requirements and assuage their worries. But nothing seems to have worked.

Interestingly enough, Rahim Yar Khan is a better site than Sahiwal where a coal power plant has been installed and is working already. And perhaps, if at all, coal power plant should have been located at Rahim Yar Khan first in the first place, as it is closer to Karachi and it would have been far less costly in financial, environmental, and railway congestion terms.

Another issue is that are we going to forget our Thar coal resources which most people have been craving for. Two coal power plants, one in Sahiwal and the other in Karachi, each of 1,320MW, should have been enough to meet the emergency. Further coal plants should have been planned and installed in Thar. It costs 4 US cents to produce one unit of electricity on imported coal and thus, one coal plant would be loading an annual import bill of $400 million.

Admittedly, this article and other efforts of this nature may not be successful in dissuading the government in going ahead with this project, although I would sincerely request them and urge them to reconsider it. I propose a compromise solution which is of changing the coal power plant design on the following lines.

The Rahim Yar Khan coal plant, others in Punjab and elsewhere should be CFBC based power plants ala Engro’s Thar coal power plants instead of Pulverized (PC) coal power plants that have been installed for imported coal.

This would enable them to use local Thar coal as well or a mixture of local and imported coal. The damage would thus be minimized.

Rahim Yar Khan, being on Sindh border, is close to Thar than any other site that is being considered in Punjab.

One could contemplate a direct road or rail link between Thar and Rahim Yar Khan and then onwards to Sahiwal. From Islamkot in Thar to Rahim Yar Khan, there is a distance of 700kms by car and 500kms in crow flight (point to point straight).

A special road link can be built or preferably a rail track. The same route can be used for taking the Thar coal to Sahiwal, in case Sahiwal coal power plant can be converted to Thar coal or a mix of imported and local. In some hard days when there would be foreign exchange problem, this solution can be handy. But solutions take time.

Punjab govt’s ‘Sahiwal power plant’ pictures stir controversy

I started with opposing the Rahim Yar Khan coal power plant proposal or decision and have ended up proposing compromise solutions reducing the pain and cost of swallowing this bitter decision of the relevant authorities. What can I do; justifying the mistake or reducing the potential cost of the mistake?

Unfortunately, Thar coal is fast losing ground soon after its inception. On the one hand, there is pressure from climate change and environmental consideration and there is competition from falling prices of Renewable Energy, and on the other hand there is the unfortunate role of the two provincial governments.

Punjab government is pursuing energy autonomy objectives almost like a separate country without realising its implications on foreign exchange. Sindh government continues to behave as a resource monopolist, little realising that times have changed.

They should in these circumstances act as resource marketers offering better terms and prices. Instead they keep insisting on Higher Returns such as IRR of 20% which reduces Thar coal competitiveness. Also, they are awarding one mining license after other without regard to market conditions. They should have waited till existing Engro mine is booked up to the optimum required capacity resulting in cost reduction.

Finally, a number of issues would have to be resolved before going ahead with such projects. There should be no hurry, already 10,000MW is in the pipeline and some pause can be taken without causing any short supply.

Some time can be spent for studies and sober thinking and evaluation. The Ministry of Water and Power has been opposing imported coal power plants, tooth and nail; reportedly, its secretary had been de- seated due to his opposition and the latest martyr is the NTDC managing director.

Secondly, there is confusion and controversy on the demand projections; there are views ranging from 4% RoG of pessimists to the 10% or even more being pushed by super-enthusiasts who foresee Pakistan becoming an ‘Asian Tiger’ very soon. The issue has to be resolved through genuine technical studies.

The Planning Commission had started some work on this issue and a few high level visits were made by the US Energy Information Administration. A PC-1 had also been approved, although after much delay and procrastination. The Commission is in some kind of limbo and dysfunction these days .They don’t manage to get the right persons despite several advertisements. They must put their act together and commission the proposed study.

Alternatively, a committee should be formed of governmental and non-governmental experts who should be able to develop some recommendations and projections in a period of three months. The committee may also examine the issue of debt servicing and paying capacity in order to recommend a viable programme resolving the current confusion and controversy.

Current imported coal tariff is due for reexamination (for new projects), as it had a life of two years. It is quite high in comparison to tariffs in the region(around 5 cents).

Balochistan gears up for 1,320MW coal-fired plant

It is about 8.5 cents plus rail transportation cost to site which would make it 9.5 cents. In my opinion, separate determinations should have been made for CPEC projects. In CPEC projects, there is no competition and thus CAPEX is naturally overstated (in the instant case by 30-40%). It should have been accompanied by lower ROEs as compared to the competitive bidding projects.

Instead, NEPRA raised the RoE to 16% instead of the normal 15%. IDC (interest during Construction) provisions can also be brought down due to smaller construction period of 24-30 months than provided in the upfront tariff. If the needed adjustments are made, imported coal power tariff can be brought down by 25%. In the new relaxed situation, there is scope for hard negotiations with Chinese in this respect and carve out special terms suiting the situation. NEPRA has to show some spine and shun relying on vendor supplied data.

Concluding, the Rahim Yar Khan power plant is a big mistake. Apparently, this is a victory of government of Punjab vis-à-vis federal institutions. But this victory would be an ultimate defeat as it would hurt them and hurt us all eventually. Would they desist from it, reading the afore-mentioned? I am not sure.

The writer has been member energy at the Planning Commission until recently

Published in The Express Tribune, July 17th, 2017.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/1459595/another-imported-coal-based-plant-punjab/

Stop importing this source of disease.

 

[Indus Pakistan]

Stop importing this source of disease.

And in America what do they generate electricty with? Apples and oranges?

FACT

Do you know how much coal United States burnt to generate electrity?

USA - 1,026,636,000 short tons

 

[HAIDER]

And in America what do they generate electricty with? Apples and oranges?

FACT

Do you know how much coal United States burnt to generate electrity?

USA - 1,026,636,000 short tons

Our coal and CO emission standards are worst compare to US.

 

[Indus Pakistan]

Our coal and CO emission standards are worst compare to US.

Everything is worse - other than women in Pakistan compared to US. Ever seen cars, trucks, buses pouring bellows of smoke? Compare that to US vehicles. That is no reason to ban vehicles in Pakistan is there? Fact is Pak is a developing country and like one of the previous posters mentioned we are going to have to go down the coal route to generate extra power in the short term. Of course like in all other sectors we can't match the developed world but that is how it goes until Pakistan can become a developed country - critical to which is energy.

Have a look at the table below and see why we need coal unless you prefer to waste money on expensive furnace oil?

 

[HAIDER]

Everything is worse - other than women in Pakistan compared to US. Ever seen cars, trucks, buses pouring bellows of smoke? Compare that to US vehicles. That is no reason to ban vehicles in Pakistan is there? Fact is Pak is a developing country and like one of the previous posters mentioned we are going to have to go down the coal route to generate extra power in the short term. Of course like in all other sectors we can't match the developed world but that is how it goes until Pakistan can become a developed country - critical to which is energy.

Have a look at the table below and see why we need coal unless you prefer to waste money on expensive furnace oil?

We have much cleaner air then rest . Our govt is unaware of preventive measure to control carbon emission. Industry don't even follow the regulated industrial safety and CO emission standards
Here is impact
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean-energy/coal-and-other-fossil-fuels/coal-air-pollution
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean-energy/coal-and-other-fossil-fuels/mining

 

[ziaulislam]

Everything is worse - other than women in Pakistan compared to US. Ever seen cars, trucks, buses pouring bellows of smoke? Compare that to US vehicles. That is no reason to ban vehicles in Pakistan is there? Fact is Pak is a developing country and like one of the previous posters mentioned we are going to have to go down the coal route to generate extra power in the short term. Of course like in all other sectors we can't match the developed world but that is how it goes until Pakistan can become a developed country - critical to which is energy.

Have a look at the table below and see why we need coal unless you prefer to waste money on expensive furnace oil?

we are talking about imported coal, its not much different to set up an imported coal plant in punjab vs LNG, look at up the sahiwal coal plant, its cost /price/unitis same as new LNG plants

 

[Chak Bamu]

Don't come crying when you are choking on the smog of these plants

Why would I? Are you that important?

Going back to your assertion that these plants are decommissioned ones from China - Do you have any proof? Any reference? Or is it just chillies up your butt that are not letting you rest?