As head of the Thar coal power project announced start of power generation at the plant through an underground coal gasification process,
As head of the Thar coal power project announced start of power generation at the plant through an underground coal gasification process, an old debate has rekindled that whether this ambitious project is feasible for power generation on commercial basis.
Dr Samar Mobarakmand, the renowned scientist and head of the Thar Coal Power Project, last week announced that the plant has for the first time generated electricity up to four megawatt.
Interestingly, the power generation began at the plant on May 28, Youm-e-Takbeer, the day when Pakistan detonated its nuclear devices 17 years ago, and Mr Mobarakmand was among the main leaders of the team which did that historical job.
“We have come on line and can produce as much electricity as possible provided we have the required funds,” Mr Mobarakmand told the Money Matters.
The Thar Coal Power plant has the capacity to produce 100 megawatt of electricity but it was turned into a pilot project to generate upto 10 megawatt after several experts raised doubts about the efficiency of the technology of using underground gasification process for power generation in this plant.
Critics say except for a place or two, such a technology is rarely used globally for the generation of electricity on commercial scale.
They have also expressed concerns regarding subsoil burning of coal to produce gas as some of them feared that the fire could spread all over the coalfield and could pollute the valuable mines.
Coal-burning causes emission of several gases which cause environment problems. The sulfur, nitrogen and carbon in coal combines during the burning process and produce sulfure dioxide, nitrogen dioxides and carbon dioxide. If emitted in large quantities, these cause pollution.
The fog phenomenon which normally hits Pakistan during winter season is said to be caused by pollution from coal-based power plants set up by India in the border areas.
A team of experts led by Engineer Arshad H. Abbasi prepared a policy paper for the Sustainable Development Policy Institute on the Coal-fired Power Generation in Pakistan last year.
The paper underlined the need for establishment of efficient coal-fired power plant to generate maximum electricity per unit, burning less fuel (coal), emitting less carbon dioxide, releasing less local air pollutants, consuming less water and leaving a smaller environmental footprint and above all offering lower tariffs for consumers.
However, the paper said the government should first consider hydropower development offering same capital cost with gestation time but having multifarious advantages.
According to the SDPI document, the world at large is moving towards high efficiency and low emissions, as exemplified by some of the most efficient power plants such as the 858 MW Coal Power Belchatow in Poland with an efficiency of 42 percent.
Similarly, the 220 MW plant in Karlsruhe, Germany has an efficiency of 46 percent and the 750 MW plant in Trianel Kohlkraftwerk Lünen, Germany has an electrical efficiency of 45.95 percent.
The document says China must be convinced to build coal power plants with the same efficiency parameters in Pakistan, instead of lowering the efficiency of proposed thermal power plants.
In fact, the best model of power plant that ought to be replicated in Pakistan is the Avedøre Power Station Denmark, which is one of the world’s most efficient with a 49 percent efficiency rate.
But Dr Mobarakmand dismissed efficiency and environmental concerns raised over underground gasification process and said no such problems were faced by his team when they produced electricity at the plant through gasification process.
“It is an environment friendly process and no environmental issues are involved in it. It is nothing but propaganda.”
“It’s a smokeless process. There was no contact between the gas and coal with the drinking water. There was no pollution at all,” he added.
He accused “furnace oil mafia as well as IPPs and other vested interested” of spreading the “baseless propaganda” to deprive the country from adopting this cheaper mode of power generation.
The scientist also blamed WAPDA high-ups for their involvement in the propaganda campaign against the coal power generation.
He claimed that the thermal power generation costs Rs 24/unit while the power generation through gasification process by using local coal costs just Rs 6/unit of electricity.
Over 175 billion tones of reservoirs of lignite coal were discovered in Thar desert by the Geological Survey of Pakistan in 1991.
Former President Asif Ali Zardari pushed hard for the success of the project and it was he and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who together launched the project last year with the hope of producing electricity at the plant on commercial basis.
According to the project officials Thar lignite coal reserves, spreads over 9,600 square - kilometers, have the potential of generating 100,000 MW by consuming 536 million tons a year.
According to them, several thousand megawatts of electricity is being produced through this technology in Russia, Central Asian States, Europe, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, China, and Southern Africa.
Dr Mobarakmand said they ran the project with the meager funds of Rs3 billion and they needed Rs 30 billion to run the plant on full scale.
“The ball is now in the government’s court,” he said adding that everyone from top to bottom in the government’s hierarchy is aware of the importance of the project.
He said the project is run totally by the Pakistani scientists. “The machinery is imported from China because they were the lowest bidders. All other work is done solely by our own people.”
“It all depends on government to take a decision when to start use the power plant to its full scale. The infrastructure is there. All we need is decision and the money,” he maintained.
The writer is a senior journalist based in Islamabad
