Daily times development analysis
Thar coalfield, located in Sindh Pakistan, is bounded in the North, East and South by India, in the West by flood plains of the Indus River. Town of Islamkot, a population center, is 44 km to the West of the mining project site in Thar coalfield.The Thar coalfield was discovered in 1991 by Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) and the United State Agency for International Development bearing 6th largest coal reserves in the world – approximately 175 billion tons – enough to meet Pakistan’s current energy shortfall and meet fuel requirements for centuries, relieving the country of the prevalent energy crisis.
Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) was developed by Sinocoal International Engineering Research & Design Institute of China, RWE of Germany, SRK (UK) and Hagler Bailly, Pakistan in 2010, for a Mine capacity of 6.5 Mt/annum. The study concluded that the project is technically, commercially, environmentally and socially feasible. In 2012-13 RWE amended the original Feasibility Study for the Mine size of 3.8 Mt/annum, which was done to reduce the capital cost of the overall project.
In 2012, RWE also developed a Competent Person Statement (CPS) for the Lignite Resources in Thar Block II, confirming that the total resources in Thar Block II are 2.039 Bn tons of which 1.57 Bn tons are mineable.
The Thar mining project is categorized amongst the ‘early harvest’ projects under CPEC to generate electricity utilizing Thar’s untapped coal reserves. To date the the project is 80% complete, 5 months ahead of schedule and has extracted the first coal from Thar Block-II in June 2018 from 141 meters below the surface.
The total planned mining capacity of the project will be 20.6 MT/annum with a capacity to scale it to 30.4 MT/annum while the power generation capacity is projected to be 3,960 MW at full capacity. The mining project is planned to be executed in 5 phases with phase I to be completed by December 2018 and Phase II commenced thereon. In the first phase, the Mine is being developed for a capacity of 3.8 MT/annum whereas two 330 MW sub critical plants are under construction; out of which 1st unit will be commissioned in December 2018 and the 2nd unit by March-April 2019 utilizing the complete capacity of 3.8 MT/annum. In the second phase the mine will be further expanded to 7.6 MTPA and additional 2 x 330 MW of power will be added whereas in the third phase Mine will be expanded to a capacity of 15.2 MT/annum with an additional power generation capacity of 1,320 MW.
Similarly, in the fourth phase the mine will be expanded to a capacity of 22.8 MT/annum with additional 1,320 MW added to the system while in the fifth and final phase Mine is expanded to its full potential of 30.4 MT/annum with additional 1,320 MW added into the system bringing the combined total to over 5,000 MW of power generation through Thar coal from Block II.
Generating power to address the energy shortfall
The first ever Thar based 660MW Lignite Coal Power plant has made rapid progress in its construction phase. With 99% completion already, the Engro Powergen Thar Limited (EPTL) power plant synchronized the first of the two 330MW units on March 18, 2019 whereas the second unit will come online in April 2019, eventually achieving Commercial Operations Date (COD) in June 2019. Engro Energy holds 50.1% of the shareholding in the Engro Power gen Thar Private Limited (EPTL) along with other partners which include HBL, Liberty and China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC).EPTL and SECMC are the largest private investment under the CPEC Framework, and the only investments which are 95% owned by Pakistanis.