A sustainable solution to the lingering energy crises in the resource-constrained Pakistan is rested in the use of a cheaper source of power generation like coal, experts believe. Energy-hungry countries world over have been burning coal to produce thousands of megawatts (MW) of cheap electricity, the successive cash-strapped governments in Pakistan have largely been oblivious to the highly economical usage of the "black gold", a nomenclature commonly used for coal in the concerned quarters.
Consequently, the socio-economic life in the otherwise developing country is still haunted by a severe energy crisis with electricity shortage in 2014 exceeding the 7,000MW mark. Experts lament the fact that Pakistan, despite possessing huge but still untapped reserves of 175 billion tons of lignite in Tharparkar district of Sindh, is heavily relying on the most expensive fuels: furnace oil and gas.
Only Block II of the Thar coal, constituting more than one percent of the total coal reserves, contains about two billion tons of lignite, according to Competent Persons Report (CPR) by RWE-Germany. Of this number, the German entity calculated, around 1.57 billion tons of lignite is mineable and can be utilised to generate almost 5,000 MW enough to cater the country's power needs for next five decades.
"The current energy fuel mix of the country is unsustainable. The government must diversify its sources of energy generation from the expensive FO, gas and diesel to coal. This would help the cash-strapped government save billions on account of overall cost of power generation," said an expert. Compared to 41 percent electricity the world is generating from coal, the production of coal-fired power plants in Pakistan stands at a meager 0.04 percent. Figures for the overall global energy mix shows that energy-hungry countries use 21 percent gas, 16 percent hydro, 13 percent nuclear, five percent oil and only three percent renewable sources for power generation.
Contrary to this economical trend, power producers in the energy-scarce but funds-starved Pakistan depend by 36 percent on oil, 29 percent on gas and 29 percent hydro power to generate electricity. Energy experts like Zahid Khan, a former managing director at Oil and Gas Development Company, is reported to have dubbed this trend unsustainable for the cash-strapped Government of Pakistan and declared the conversion to coal-based power generation as the sole viable solution for the country in the current circumstances.
Experts rubbish the claims that coal-fired power plants are health hazardous saying latest coal technologies in the world employ fuel-saving supercritical boilers meant to minimise greenhouse emissions. Further, the particulate matter emissions are controlled through the instalment of Electro Static Precipitators.
While low Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) burners cut NOx emissions, the Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) reduces Sulphur Oxides content and Dust Suppression Systems are provided at the point of dust generation eg ash silo, ESP and bunker silos. Officials at IPPs Advisory Committee believe that while the government was running from pillar to post to cope with the longstanding circular debt issue, the economy-crippling energy crisis was far from being resolved without addressing its primary cause: heavy reliance on expensive furnace oil-based power production. The country, they said, may slash its power generation cost up to 50 percent by converting its FO-based power plants to coal.
This, the officials hope, would also relieve the power consumers in the long run in terms of power tariff, which is heavily subsidised thus backbreaking for the resource-constrained government. Improvement in the energy mix could significantly bring down the cost of power generation for end consumers, they said. Pakistan, experts said, could follow the footsteps of its all-weather friends China, which is producing 79 percent of electricity through coal. China by producing cheap electricity has long been benefiting its domestic, commercial and industrial consumers through keeping power tariff low. This greatly leverages Chinese export industries, especially textiles, in terms of comparative advantage vis-à-vis Beijing's global competitors like Pakistan.
India, Pakistan's arch rival, too is well-illustrated to this effect. The neighbouring hostile country is using almost 68 percent coal for power generation. New Delhi has planned a series of ambitious coal power stations called Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPP), each having capacity of 4,000MW or above.
About 70 percent of the total 1200 coal-fired power plants proposed world-wide to be set up in 2012 are based in China and India, the traditional coal-based economies. This trend shows that the world's second largest economy, China, would keep depending on this cheaper source of energy generation for decades to come. IEA Clean Coal Centre, in its 2015 report, also said that traditional coal-based economies like China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and South Korea would continue pursuing coal.
If global coal consumption is any criterion the world has been using more and more coal for generating electricity. The countries' 4.76 billion tons global consumption of coal in 2000 was recorded at 7.69 billion tons in 2012, registering 60 percent growth or 4 percent annual average growth. Moreover, the International Energy Agency has estimated the global coal consumption as nine billion tons in 2019.