LAHORE: Punjab Energy Department (PED) Chief Engineer (Power) Iftikhar Ahmad Randhawa disclosed on Sunday that besides constructing 1,180 megawatts combined cycle RLNG Bhikki Power Plant and three other hydropower projects with total capacity of 17MW, the Punjab government was also exploring sites for 11 small coal power plants with 150 megawatts each to mitigate the energy crisis. He said that the government was exploiting all energy resources including coal, solar, wind, biomass, agro-waste, hydro and other renewable resources to optimise electricity generation at provincial level. He said that feasibility of 22MW biomass power plant at Chak Jhumra had been completed, adding that up to 750MW electricity could be generated annually through biomass resources in the province. Randhawa said that the government was selecting two villages as models in the limits of Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) and Multan Electric Power Company (MEPCO) for construction of agro-waste/biomass power plants with a capacity of 300 kilowatts each, adding that after their successful operation, its scope would be extended to other villages of the province as well. The PED chief engineer said that the government had also been working on three small hydropower projects with total capacity of 17MW, including 7MW project at Marala, 5MW each at Chiyanwali and Dek Outfall, while 2.86MW hydropower plant was functioning at Pakpattan. He mentioned that one-megawatt hydel power plant’s operation for one hour could save 250 litres oil, consumed by a thermal plant instead, and in this way it could reduce substantially the oil import bill. He stressed the need for adopting modern methods such as distributed generation, net metering and wheeling system to end energy crisis in the country. The chief engineer said that six sites for setting up of coal power plants of 1,300MW each had also been pointed out, citing that 1,320MW coal-fired power plant was under construction at the Sahiwal site. However, he added, due to some unavoidable reasons, RLNG combined cycle power projects had been initiated on three sites including 1180MW Bhikhhi Power Project, 1200MW Balloki Power Project and of same capacity at Haveli Bahadur Shah, Jhang. Projects at Balloki and Haveli Bahadur Shah were being funded by the federal government, while Bhikhhi Power Plant was being installed by the Punjab government, he informed. Regarding Sahiwal coal-fired power project, Randhawa explained that coal power plant required huge land, abundant water, easy transportation and power transmission facility. Besides this, he mentioned, a powerhouse was usually set up at places that have primary energy source as well as near to power load centres. About provincial wise power generation potential, he said that there were 45,000MW and 12,000MW hydel power generation potential in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu Kashmir respectively. Similarly, 3,000MW electricity could be generated daily for 150 years through utilization of Thar coal deposits in Sindh, which also had wind power generation potential as huge as 350,000MW, he asserted. The PED chief engineer suggested that other provinces must benefit from precious energy resources in KP, Sindh and AJK by funding energy projects there. About wind power generation potential in Punjab, he said that four wind masts had been installed in the province for wind data collection, and wind energy projects would be initiated after analysing the wind data.