Cleaner coal!

Pakistan is committed to mitigate impact of climate change, pursuant to the Agreement concluded at the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Paris during November-December 2015, with the goal of limiting the rise of global temperatures to below 2 degree Celsius. Last year Prime Minister Imran Khan reiterated this commitment at the 2019 Climate Change Conference, declaring that no new coal-fired power plant would be set up in the country.

In reality, as many as eight coal-based power plants are in advanced stages of construction, scheduled to be operational by 2021-2026. These projects of 4,290-MW cumulative capacity, mostly based on indigenous coal, are being established under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) programme. The list includes (i) Hubco Thar Energy Coal Power of 330-MW capacity scheduled for commercial operations by December 2021, (ii) Lucky Electric Power 660-MW, scheduled for completion in March 2021 but delayed by about a year, (iii) Siddiqsons Energy 330-MW, expected to be completed in 2021, (iv) Shanghai Electric Coal Power 1,320-MW, to be operational in May 2022, (v) ThalNova Thar Coal Power 330-MW, to be operational by June 2022, (vi) Gwadar Coal (CHIC Pak Power) 300-MW, based on imported coal, to be completed by June 2023, (vii) Siddiqsons Energy 330-MW to achieve commercial operations in July 2023, and (viii) Thar Electricity (Oracle) Coal 1,320-MW projected for completion in December 2026. In addition, Shanghai Electric Coal Power has been allowed to setup two power plants, each of 1320-MW, and K-Electric ‘s coal-based power project of 700-MW capacity.

It is simply not possible for the government, and neither feasible, to stop construction and completion of any of these projects, which are mostly under the CPEC umbrella. Interestingly, CPEC portfolio of energy projects of 11,648-MW has over 70 perecnt share of coal-based power projects with total capacity of 8,220-MW. The necessary approvals were granted at various levels of government without any concern for the environment or international commitments on climate change.

At present, coal-based power generation, with total 4,868-MW installed capacity, has a significant share of 12.6 percent in total energy mix as on June 30, 2020. Undoubtedly, there has been an exponential growth of coal-based power generation, considering there were no major coal-based units as late as 2017. Today, there are four major coal-based power plants of cumulative 4,620-MW capacity connected to national grid, and another five small and captive power plants in capacity ranging from 20-MW to 118-MW that are selling surplus power to the distribution companies.

The existing major coal-based power plants are (i) Sahiwal Coal Power of Huaneng Shandong Ruyi (Pakistan) Energy, 1,320-MW capacity, which was the first CPEC project completed, and generating electricity since October 2017, (ii) Port Qasim Coal-Fired Power Plant, another CPEC project, of Port Qasim Energy Holding (of China and Qatar), capacity 1,320-MW, which is in operation since June 2018, (iii) China Power Hub Generation (Hubco) of 1,320-MW, which was connected to national grid in May 2019, and (iv) Engro Powergen Thar 660-MW having achieved commercial operations in July 2019.

With the exception of Engro Powergen plant, which is using indigenous lignite coal, all other operational power plants are fuelled by imported coal. These three power plants require about 12 million tons of coal annually, which is imported from China and other sources. It is imperative that in the long run we should at least promote and develop domestic coal reserves to gradually replace the imported one. Pakistan has 185,174 million tons of coal, located across the country, with measured reserves of over 3,400 million tons. Yet coal is also imported by the cement industry in significant quantities—around 8 million tons a year, and other industries like textile, rubber and pharmaceuticals. Total coal imports are presently at the volume of 20 million tons annually, projected to increase to 30 million tons by end 2022 as demand continues to rise.

The government meanwhile claims to have 60 percent clean energy by 2030 through renewable resources, which is highly unlikely. Coal will remain an integral contributor to the energy mix and industrial development.

The well-known environmental issues relate to conventional pollutants e.g., sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, and mercury, while new concerns are about carbon dioxide and global warming. The existing and new power plants will spew billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over their lifetime, if their operations are not balanced with climatic priorities. Fortunately, modern coal technology is available---from coal processing to coal combustion to monitoring and process control. Coal technology employed in Pakistan, however is not state-of-the-art technology. These power plants use old subcritical and supercritical technologies that allow relatively high emissions. Lucky Electric, which has yet to come on stream, will use the advanced ultra-supercritical technology for the first time in Pakistan.

The latest advancement is that of developing high-efficiency and low-emission (HELE) coal technologies, which are available now, but aim at zero emission of carbon dioxide in future. This technology, combined with the carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) technologies, has been successfully employed in Japan, Australia, China, India, Denmark and other countries. To utilise low-grade coal like Thar Coal, the coal gasification process is getting popular the world over for removing carbon dioxide from flue gases. Hubco has plans to convert Thar Coal into gas (surface coal gasification) and liquid (liquefaction), while Dr Samar Mubarakmand has already been working for some time on an experimental project for underground coal gasification.

The writer is former chairman of State Engineering Corporation