KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that 1320-MW of coal-fired energy has been added to the national grid this month and another 660-MW would be added next year.

“The solution to the country’s energy crisis lies in Thar coal,” he said on Monday while presiding over a board meeting of Thar Coal Energy here.

Minister Energy Imtiaz Shaikh briefing the meeting said that Sino-Sindh Resources (SSR) started coal excavation work in Block-I in January 2022 it has completed 99 percent work to excavate 7.8-mtpa coal by December 31, 2022. He added that it was a CPEC project.

The Power Engineering Company has installed two 660-MW coal-fired power plants for $2 billion. Both the power plants successfully synchronized with the national grid on December 2 and December 11, 2022, respectively.

Imtiaz Shaikh said that SECM planned to expand the mine from 7.6 Mtpa to 12.2 Mtpa mine. He said that Lucky Electric Power has started work on a 660-MW power plant for which it would be supplied 3.6 Mtpa coal. This plant would start commercial operation in 2024.

Thar Energy has already synchronized its 330 MW coal-fired power plant with the national Grid in October 2022 and another 330-MW plant would start commercial operation by 2023.

The meeting was attended by Minister Education Syed Sardar Shah, Minister Energy Imtiaz Shaikh, Advisor Law Murtaza Wahab, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, PSCM Fayaz Jatoi, DG Coal Authority Khadim Channa, and others. Minister BISP Shazia Marri, Special Assistant to PM Tariq Bajwa, Federal Secretary Energy Rashid Langrial, Federal Secretary Law Raja Naeem Akbar, and others attended the meeting through video link.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022