The government of Pakistan is seeking international investment in the country's coal-based power generation infrastructure. Islamabad's call came in the backdrop of the economic manager's enhanced focus on coal-fired power generation ventures which are aimed at enhancing energy efficiency in the resource-constrained country. According to World Energy Statistics 2011, published by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the energy-starved country's per capita electricity consumption is one-sixth of the world on average.
World average per capita electricity consumption is 2,730 kilowatt hours (kWh) compared to Pakistan's 451 kWh. According to Pakistan Energy Year Book 2011, the country's installed power generation capacity is 22,477 megawatts. The demand for power in the developing country is approximately the same.
The country needs to redesign the electricity portfolio and substitute oil and gas with an abundantly available indigenous fuel source like coal," said an energy expert. The country, which grew economically at 4.3 percent during FY15, must develop indigenous energy resources to meet its future electricity needs, he said. Utilizing the so-far untapped coal reserves, the expert said, would be a game-changer.
"Fortunately, Pakistan has a very inexpensive source to get energy through coal. Coal is economically viable and a long-term solution to balance the demand and supply chain of electricity," he said. After hydro, coal is the world's cheapest fuel for power generation. "It is by far cheaper than nuclear, natural gas and oil," he said. Giving a global overview, the expert said currently about 41 percent of the world's electricity was being generated from coal, the single largest contributor to world electricity generation.
Well-illustrated here, he said, were countries like Poland, South Africa, China, India, Australia, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Germany, USA, UK, Turkey, Ukraine and Japan where the coal-based power generation stood, respectively, at 96, 88, 78, 78, 77, 72, 69.9, 52.5, 52, 37, 31.3, 27.5 and 22.9 percent. "Pakistan generates only 1 percent of electricity from coal," he lamented.
Now as it has tasked its energy advisers to ensure large scale electricity generation through coal, the cash-strapped Government of Pakistan requires huge financial resources to materialise its short- and long-term plans. The country's initial financial requirement to this end stands at $10 billion. With global energy demand projected to swell up to 55 percent by 2030, fossil fuels would keep dominating the share of world's energy mix. This, the industry pundits believe, would take demand for coal to 70 percent in absolute terms during next 15 years.
Comments
Comments are closed.