Daily Times

KARACHI: The joint venture firm-China-Hub Power Generation Company Limited (CPHGCL) has applied with National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) for tariff adjustment for optimal Jetty design of its 2×660 MW imported coal project.

Earlier, in February, the regulator approved upfront tariff for coal-based power project of China-Hub Power Company at a levelised tariff of 8.36 cents (Rs8.12) per unit for 30 years.

CPHGCL is a joint venture of China Power International Holding (CPIH) and Hub Power Company (HUBCO) and the venture is setting up a new 2 x 660 MW coal fired power plant (HPP), to be located slightly to the north of the estuary of the Hub River, Baluchistan.

‘Although the site location is close to Karachi but it can hardly be used for efficiently supplying the required bulk commodity to the power plant due to various reasons’, said Logmarin, project’s feasibility report consultant.

The consultant said in the report that limitation in draft entailing restrictions to berth and the max vessel size, poor coal handling infrastructure (target milestone of 2017 is not expected to be guaranteed), dependency on external traffic and other shipment relying on the same coal berths and no history of similar barging operations across the coast lines may impede bulk commodity supply to the power plant. However the proposed units shall be designed to handle the issues.

The Project foresees an annual coal consumption of about 3.8 million tonnes per year which is to be delivered to shore in total, for the two power units, while it will be sourced from South Africa and/or Indonesia. Shipment from source to the power plant location will be carried out via Ocean Going Vessels (OGV, Supramax, Panamax and Capesize are preliminarily considered).

According to the preliminary feasibility study report of the project, the primary port of loading is Richards Bay, in South Africa, whileEast Kalimantan (Samarinda area, distributing coal from different producers) is considered as the Indonesian source. However, the final Indonesian source should be chosen also taking into account the quality of coal required by the power plant.

As a first indication, the shipyard for the project which might be taken into consideration are Chengxi (China), Cosco (China), Keppel (Philippines) while the potential service providers fo rteh projects are Coeclerici Logistics, Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, PT. Mitra Bahtera SegaraSejati, Oldendorff Carriers GmbH & Co. and Swire CTM Bulk Logistic. The preliminary feasibility report says Transhipment operations are highly influenced by the harsh wave conditions during the monsoon season, due to cross waves and swell, causing an expected almost continuous downtime from about June to September.

It recommends to developers to establish contact with local authorities should be considered a priority, with the aim to obtain their concurrence on the alternative transshipment solutions, “port cost” at the HHP site and evaluate the possibility to use the shelter provided by Karachi channel during the monsoon and investigate relative cost associated to Panamax OGV mooring in Karachi sheltered channel.