Gathering energy crisis

Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim's remark at a briefing he gave to a delegation of National Defence Course that the country's acute energy crunch could be obviated by utilising the vast reserves of high-quality Thar coal will hopefully shake the energy bureaucracy's out of its inertia.
The harnessing of additional energy resources has so far been only high-sounding talk at five-star functions, with little concrete action on the ground. Dr Rahim has rightly asserted that the tapping of Sindh's vast coal reserves could revolutionise the country's energy sector.
His statement assumes special significance when viewed against the backdrop of the present countrywide loadshedding. Unavoidable in winter, an unusual phenomenon by any count, the loadshedding reflects the seriousness of the crisis the country is faced with.
Incidentally, Pakistan ranks as world's fourth largest coal-containing country, and in terms of energy generating potential, its coal reserves put it ahead of many leading oil-producing countries of the world. According to one estimate, Pakistan has 185 billion tons of high quality coal deposits out of which 3.3 billion tons are in the measured category, while 11 billion tons are indicated as reserves.
Further, Pakistan's total mine-able coal reserves have been estimated at two billion tons, which is 60 percent of the measured deposits. However, despite the presence of such huge coal deposits, things have not moved beyond the stage of signing of MoUs.
According to a Recorder Report, as many as nine multinational companies, including Sumitomo of Japan, Siemens and Reinhaul of Germany, AES Corporation of USA, Al-Jumaih Group of Saudi Arabia and Malakoff of Malaysia have so far submitted statements of qualification for establishing a 1000-1200 megawatt power project in Sindh.
The MoU signed with a Canadian company, Cathy Oil and Gas Ltd in September last year for production and commercialisation of the coal bed methane in Sindh was the latest MoU signed by the government.
Experts believe that by using only two percent of its huge coal reserves, Pakistan can generate about 20,000 megawatts of electricity for nearly 40 years. Further, some of the major by-products Pakistan will get out of power generation, would include 5.14 million tons of anhydrous fertiliser, dephenolized creslylic acid pesticides, wire anamel, exposy resin, krypton/xenon gases, liquid nitrogen etc.
But for this to happen, Pakistan needs an investment of four billion dollars for the mining of Thar coal reserves, which has proved elusive so far. However, after failing to involve any major multinational company in mining and power generation, the government has reportedly decided to establish a $500 million Thar Coal Company, to be operated by the private sector.
The plan envisages the unbundling of Thar coal project into mining and power generation sectors in order to bring down the size of investment in each of the six identified blocks of the Thar coal field, from $1.5 billion to $500 million. Discovered in 1992 and spread over more than 9000 square kilometers, Sindh's high quality coal deposits are believed to be sufficient for meeting the country's energy requirements for 100 years.
The province's coal deposits of about 218 billion tons - about 98 percent of the country's total - are suitable for electricity generation in addition to many other applications. It should be mentioned here that at a global level, coal is one of the major sources of energy, which contributes a share of 23.80 percent in the world's energy system. As it is not an environmentally friendly resource, liquefaction and gasification technologies are being increasingly used to obtain energy from coal.
With Pakistan's energy requirements expected to grow at the rate of 7.4 percent over the next five years, the government should expedite implementation of its energy security plan. The country's energy deficit is meanwhile, rapidly escalating, and according to one projection it will be at least 1000 megawatts from 2007 onwards.
Our annual demand for electricity is growing by six to seven percent under pressure of industrialization, and by the year 2012 Pakistan will need an additional 5000 megawatts of electricity. The energy crisis has in fact already hit the country, with gas supply to many industries, including cement, having been already switched off.
Coal has a substantial edge over other non-renewable resources as a relatively cheaper mode of electric power generation. We propose that a full-fledged National Coal Authority be established to develop and utilise the country's huge coal energy potential.