Lucky Cement Limited, one of Pakistan’s largest cement manufacturers, announced that it has completed the installation of its 34MW captive solar power plant at Pezu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The development was shared by Lucky Cement in a notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday.

“We are pleased to inform that the installation of the 34MW captive solar power plant, at our manufacturing site at Pezu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has been completed within the planned project timelines.

“The solar power plant has been successfully commissioned and is fully operational with effect from December 29, 2022,” it added.

Lucky to install 25.3MW captive solar power project in Karachi at estimated cost of Rs3bn

Back in March, Lucky Cement and Reon Energy announced a 34MW captive solar power project.

“The 34MW solar PV project is expected to produce approximately 48GWh (Gigawatt hours) annually. The output energy will be used on-site resulting in substantial savings for the company in cost of energy and will also cut around 29,569 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions annually,” the company said in a statement back then.

“This will improve the reliability of the power system by absorbing variations of the solar plant and improve the overall generation efficiency by shutting down 20 MW of fossil fuel generation during the daytime whilst keeping the critical spinning reserve intact.

“Furthermore, storage will build flexibility into the cement plant’s power system, and allow quick response in case of any power faults enabling 24/7 operations,” it added.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Lucky said that “the installation of the solar power plant is a testament to its commitment for conserving energy and promoting green energy resources”.

“Lucky's investment in renewable energy projects will result in cost savings as well as reduction of country's reliance on imported fuel,” it added.

Lucky to undertake feasibility for renewable energy project at Karachi plant

Earlier in June, Lucky Cement’s Board of Directors authorised its management to undertake a feasibility study for a renewable energy project at its plant in Karachi.

Moreover, back in March, Lucky Electric Power Company Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lucky Cement, successfully completed the commissioning of its 660MW supercritical, lignite coal-based power plant at Deh Ghangiaro, Bin Qasim, Karachi.

The power plant was synchronised with the national grid towards the end of CY 2021 and achieved Commercial Operations Date (COD) on March 21, 2022.