The company had petitioned for $46.84 after having operated the smaller mine for around 2 years. So worse case it’s $46.84 or mid 40s like earlier thought. All this includes profits as it’s a commercial venture. So costs are lower still.
Thar coal - too little, too late
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ghazi52
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Thar Coal Power Generation Saved Pakistan $78 Million: Murad Ali Shah
Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, has said that the use of indigenous Thar Coal, instead of imported coal, for power generation, has resulted in a saving of $78 million foreign exchange for the country.
“By procession toward `Economy of scale’ Thar coal prices are reducing from initial $58 per ton to $32 per ton and with further expansion, the prices will reduce even further,” said the CM while presiding over a Thar Coal and Energy Board (TCEB) meeting at the CM House, Karachi.
By further expansion to 15 mtpa or more, Thar coal prices will further reduce by 50 percent, and Thar Coal Tariff (at around 5.5 US cent per kWh) will be the cheapest baseload in the country, he informed.
He said that Thar Coal Mining Block-II, phase-I was a 3.8 mtpa project and has been commissioned on July 10, 2019. It has extracted over six million tons of coal so far
Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, has said that the use of indigenous Thar Coal, instead of imported coal, for power generation, has resulted in a saving of $78 million foreign exchange for the country.
“By procession toward `Economy of scale’ Thar coal prices are reducing from initial $58 per ton to $32 per ton and with further expansion, the prices will reduce even further,” said the CM while presiding over a Thar Coal and Energy Board (TCEB) meeting at the CM House, Karachi.
By further expansion to 15 mtpa or more, Thar coal prices will further reduce by 50 percent, and Thar Coal Tariff (at around 5.5 US cent per kWh) will be the cheapest baseload in the country, he informed.
He said that Thar Coal Mining Block-II, phase-I was a 3.8 mtpa project and has been commissioned on July 10, 2019. It has extracted over six million tons of coal so far
denel
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COrrect; it makes no sense.
However what I do wish to see if use of SASOL to assist with Coal to Gas/Liquid fuels which we are the world's leader. Been doing this now for 60 years. However, the cost of this technology per barrel is high around 50$/barrell. but it is all about strategic interest.
Protest_again
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Indian PV auction delivers final record low price of $0.0269/kWh
The solar electricity price in India has dipped further to an all-time low of INR 1.99 ($0.0269)/kWh in a recently held 500 MW Gujarat auction, which is 0.5% lower than the previous record of INR 2.00/kWh set a month ago.
Why can't Pakistan get such rates with solar? Why damage your environment?
The solar electricity price in India has dipped further to an all-time low of INR 1.99 ($0.0269)/kWh in a recently held 500 MW Gujarat auction, which is 0.5% lower than the previous record of INR 2.00/kWh set a month ago.
Why can't Pakistan get such rates with solar? Why damage your environment?
Modern coal power station by Chinese are not the dirty low tech one in the 90s. Becareful of what express tribune report. Certainly Chinese are not abandoning coal. You can see recently we signed big coal deals with indonesia.
You can see the little white smoke produced even running at max capacity. The harmful sulphur produce using modern tech can make into useful byproduct. The Chinese modern carbon emissions can by only 10-20percent of the power plant build in the 90s.
GS Zhou
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Echo your point, the coal power plants in China are much more efficient and cleaner than what operated in many developed countries.
Compared with the Chinese coal fleet, even the best U.S. plants are running older, less efficient technologies. Coal-fired power plants can generally be broken down into three categories:
Subcritical: In these conventional power plants, coal is ignited to boil water, the water creates steam, and the steam rotates a turbine to generate electricity. The term “subcritical” indicates that internal steam pressure and temperature do not exceed the critical point of water—705 degrees Fahrenheit and 3,208 pounds per square inch
Supercritical: These plants use high-tech materials to achieve internal steam temperatures in the 1,000–1,050 degrees Fahrenheit range and internal pressure levels that are higher than the critical point of water, thus spinning the turbines much faster and generating more electricity with less coal.
Ultra-supercritical: These plants use additional technology innovations to bring temperatures to more than 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit and pressure levels to more than 5,000 pounds per square inch, thus further improving efficiency.
Everything You Think You Know About Coal in China Is Wrong
China’s new coal-fired power plants are cleaner than ours—and stronger on climate change.
www.americanprogress.org
WebMaster
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Well, solar energy is picking up on private level.
Solar capacity is limited to mostly day usage. If solar is going to replace coal, the economy scale is unimaginable.
Coal will not go away anytime. With advancement of technology, the harmful emission of coal are keep reducing to make it more and more attractive and environmental friendly.
As I mention the emission of coal can be make into a variety of byproducts which solar, hydro and wind energy not going to achieve.
Science | AAAS
A simple rule of thumb for me: if any development generates frequent concerning reports by "experts" in Pakistani media then I assume by default that its a positive development for Pakistan. US, Germany and other developed countries have enjoyed the benefits of cheap power while destroying the climate for more than a century. Now all of a sudden they have grown a concern--but not for themselves only for developing countries. Lets wait for US/EU to shutdown all their coal plants and shift to renewables before throwing away this gift of Thar coal. I just hope that irregularities and exorbitant tariffs agreed by PMLN/PPP in these projects are addressed ASAP.
ARMalik
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Thar coal - too little, too late
In most countries, coal production may be phased out by 2050
SYED AKHTAR ALI
January 10, 2021
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has recently announced that there will be no more coal-based power plants in Pakistan.
International climate lobbies have welcomed the statement but domestic energy circles or at least parts of them are not happy. Many people believe that Pakistan’s carbon footprint is too little and say we have vast coal reserves in Thar, which we have only begun to exploit and a lot needs to be done in this respect.
The statement may be corrected or adjusted in coming days on technical advice from other parts of the government. It appears that, under a misguided enthusiasm of our climate lobby and the ministry, the PM made the statement under international pressure against coal.
But there is a background to it as well – mounting circular debt of Rs2.3 trillion and high cost of power generation, of which coal including Thar coal is a major part. Had there been earnings and savings, he may have had some hesitation.
We will elaborate in this space on three aspects of Thar coal – too little, too late and too expensive. Coal, admittedly, is a dirty fuel and contributes to the carbon footprint. On the other hand, even to date, coal is generating more than 33% of electricity around the world.
Both our friend China and foe India are the two largest producers and consumers of coal. But both have announced they will reduce their reliance on coal.
China plans to reduce it from 70% to 50% in 2025. Similar statements have emanated from the Indian side. India’s large solar and wind power plans somehow support this.
UN secretary general has recently made the following statement: There must be no new coal and all existing coal in the EU should be phased out by 2030 and elsewhere by 2040. He has urged that all coal financing must end. It appears that in most coal-committed countries, coal will be phased out by 2050.
Production cost
Indeed, we have started late on coal. India started with its lignite in the 1950s and its Thar lignite in 1970. Pakistan ignored and delayed Thar coal and finally agreed on an expensive proposal after rejecting a cheaper offer from China.
The same Chinese company has agreed recently to cooperate in building a coal-to-diesel plant under the CPEC framework. Current production cost of Thar coal is $61 per ton, more than twice the international cost of similar coal under comparable geological and mining conditions like stripping ratio, water and chemical composition.
Similarly, Thar coal-based electricity is 40% expensive than elsewhere and equals in cost with imported coal-power plants, which produce at 8.5 US cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Problems are not in Thar coal itself. It is as good as its counterparts elsewhere in the world in terms of properties. The problem has been in management and policy.
High capital expenditure, zero equity syndrome, high interest rates and unseen return on equity (ROE) of 20% have led to the excessive cost. Unless and until these are corrected, Thar coal can never become competitive. All recent studies have demanded this.
A Chinese team has recently submitted its report, recommending reduction in Thar coal cost by 50% if coal-to-diesel production has to be made viable. Locally, Hub Power has made similar demands for conversion of its oil-based power plant into Thar coal. Infant industry support argument does not apply. Indians are producing electricity from the same coal at half the cost and similar volumes, across the border a few hundred kilometres away.
Nothing extraordinary has been done. Mining projects are undertaken in far-off places like Thar and not in urban neighbourhoods. Thus, all the arguments defending high cost do not stay the test of scientific inquiry. Had Thar coal been produced at a reasonable cost, it would have been received with much more enthusiasm and optimism.
Now, solar power has come with 2 US cents per kWh and storage cost falling by the day. In the medium term, solar will not cost more than 4 cents including storage cost. This will further dilute the attractiveness of Thar coal.
Already, there are people heavily in favour of solar power as opposed to any other form of energy. Solar energy may even push hydroelectric power behind, if distributed generation catches on and storage issues are resolved. Thus, Thar coal is late in the day. We started too little as well. We have 3,300 megawatts of imported coal-based capacity installed recently and more imported capacity in the pipeline. Sindh government, initially, wasted time in power tussle and then manoeuvred to get an unreasonable ROE of 20%. The Sindh government is a partner with 51% equity in the SECMC project.
Greenhouse gases
The world order is committed to reducing the carbon footprint. Pakistan is going to be among seven countries with worst consequences, although its contribution to greenhouse gases is minimal due to a very low degree of development, besides we have social issues of hunger and poverty.
World may be giving us some consideration but not a lot and not too far in time. We are too much dependent on international order and support.
We have a highly dependent and unsustainable economy. Despite remittances of $20 billion (based on poor labourers’ toil), we are perpetually in current account deficit and have to frequently knock at the IMF’s door. It would be very difficult to defy the world order and policies. The least that can be expected is trade restrictions, taxation and incentives.
There are other issues and difficulties in Thar coal transport, water requirement and transmission of electricity to far-off places where there is demand.
Pakistan is destined to become a water-stressed country, which is the last category in water resource classification. Pakistan would have to be careful in the choice of water-consuming technologies and even crops like sugarcane and rice. Thus, there are multi-dimensional aspects which should be kept in mind. I am sure bureaucracy would be working on the right elaboration of PM’s statement. So as not to apply to the planned (20,000MW) or/and under-implementation projects (8,000MW).
Another possible adjustment may be that the statement wouldn’t apply to coal gasification, which is partially clean. It appears that coal (Thar)-based capacity may not be able to go beyond 8,000-20,000MW.
To those who like coal and love Thar coal and are associated with it in some way, my suggestion would be to correct the inadequacies that have been indicated in the foregoing and bring in competition and efficiency.
The tragedy is that Thar has estimated reserves of 185 billion tons of coal that will last for centuries and too little of it would be exploited.
World has been using coal for the last two centuries. But this is going to be the fate in most countries which have more coal resources than we have – the US, China, India, Australia – and of better quality than our lignite.
We have abundant alternative energy resources as well – solar, wind and other bio-resources. Skies would not cry, if Thar coal is not utilised to the full.
The writer is former member energy of the Planning Commission
Published in The Express Tribune, January 11th, 2021.
I am sorry but this is such an idiotic article by some illiterate. It is pure propaganda. Here are the very first basic questions - What types of coal is Thar producing?? Is it Coking coal or Thermal coke or a combination of both??
Coking coal is ONLY used for the production of steel, and it is cheap resource for steel production. Thermal coal can still be very effectively used for power generation and with very good pollution control strategy. People need to understand the concept of "Base Grid Electricity". Renewable energy can NEVER BE BASE GRID ELECTRICITY source. Only coal, nuclear, gas, etc are base electricity resources.
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vi-va
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Don't be so naive. No one ever made money by liquefy coal when oil is 50 dollars per barrel. Not even possible profitable even under $ 70-80 per barrel.
Liquefy coal is very complex and huge investment, as well as huge amount of water. For every ton of liquefied coal, you need 7-8 tons of water at least.
Also, not every coal are the same, liquefy coal need one the best coal, which is not the case in Thar coal mine.
China has invest hugely on liquefy coal, all of them need subsidies, in billions of USD annually, otherwise they had bankrupted many years ago. China hold the most liquefy coal plants in the world, and still increasing every year to decrease oil dependency, while it cost us an arm and leg.
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Indos
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Nope, liquefy coal uses low grade coal that cannot be sold due to its low grade, this is why businesses try to make it liquefied so that it can have good burning rate like high grade coal and cleaner like gas as well, thus making it tradable. The coal is cheap and currently become idle stock/reserve. The production waste is also quite valuable if it is processed further which can become a very important material to make solar panel.
vi-va
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What pollution to be specific? China coal plant use Ultra-supercritical steam generator , the highest in the world literally.
Xuzhou 3 Shows the Future of Subcritical Coal Power Is Sublime
A remarkable retrofit at Xuzhou Unit 3 boosted the 320-MW subcritical coal unit’s efficiency to beyond 43.56%—higher than all existing Chinese supercritical units, and even many ultrasupercritical units
www.powermag.com
How China Is Improving Coal Technology
In China, though specific achievements are hard to pinpoint owing in part to a dearth of public or internationally available information, coal technology
www.powermag.com
Yuhuan 1,000MW Ultra-Supercritical Pressure Boilers
The Huaneng Yuhuan power plant located on the coast of East China’s Zhejiang Province has China’s first 1,000MW ultra-supercritical pressure boilers.
www.power-technology.com
The sulphur, Nitrogen oxide and dust has been filtered out. The exhaust is very clean unless you believe CO2 is pollution.
Pakistan best energy source is coal and Hydropower, others such as solar and wind is unstable. You won't have sunlight in the night, while wind is unpredictable.
The pollution of coal mining is manageable. It's a management problem other than technology.
To think coal is dirty, just western bull$hit. Yes, coal burning generated more CO2, but so what? Pakistan carbon emissions still much lower than Europeans and Americans, much lower.
Literally, you can't find better coal plant, I believe Pakistan tried to shop around
Morpheus
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Thar Coal Power Generation Saved Pakistan $78 Million: Murad Ali Shah
Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, has said that the use of indigenous Thar Coal, instead of imported coal,
propakistani.pk
