Daily Times

Sir: Pakistan sits on one of the world’s largest coal reserves, which is an elating feeling that coal has been mined out of the Thar Coal fields, and will be commercialised sooner than later. Additionally the Sahiwal Coal Power Project is a coal power plant that is already in operation and generating 1320 MV electricity.

There are many more projects in the pipeline for coal consumption. However, reducing CO2 emissions or Low emission technologies do not exist in Pakistan. Primarily, it is the clean carbon technologies that can make substantial reductions in CO2 emissions from coal usage. High efficiency, low emission (HELE) coal technologies and carbon capture and storage (CCS) are critical to meeting energy needs and our climate goals. Moving the current average global efficiency rate of coal-fired power plants from 33% to 40% by deploying off-the-shelf technologies could cut two gigatones of CO2 emissions, while allowing affordable energy for economic expansion and poverty reduction.

Deploying HELE coal-fired power plants is also a key first step for Pakistan along a pathway to near-zero emissions from coal with CCS. That is a viable option left to save Pakistan and smother earth from greenhouse gases.

NASIR SOOMRO

Karachi

Published in Daily Times, October 6^th 2018.