Thar coal reserves may help control energy crisis: Dr Samar

Thar coal reserves can help Pakistan to come out of the present energy crisis, which has marred the industrial as well as economic growth of the country, said Dr Samar Mubarakmand, a renowned nuclear scientist and Member Planning Commission of Pakistan here on Saturday.
"If air compressors would be provided by the government then electricity and gas could be produced from Thar coal reserves next month", Dr Mubarakmand said while talking to media after addressing a seminar organised by Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industries.
Dr Samar addressed the business community of the region and shared the possible solutions of present energy crisis with business leaders. President RCCI Ali Raza Saeed Shah, senior executives of the chamber, former presidents and business leaders of the regions were also present on the occasion.
Dr Samar said that the production of electricity and gas from Thar coal fields is a huge national activity, which will have impact on the country's power production and help it bail out from present economic crisis. "It is need of the hour that government should take some quick steps to address the problem and take the private sector along to meet the capital cost of the project using basic raw material available in the country", the nuclear scientist suggested.
The science and technology section of the Planning Commission conceived a project to be pursued at a pilot scale in the Thar coal fields for the production of 100MW of electricity, he said, adding that similar projects are being currently implemented at more than 40 places in four continents.
"Coal is also converted into coal gas above the ground in machines called surface gasifies," Dr Samar said, adding that the efficiency of the conversion of coal gas to electricity is about 40 percent. The engine-generator sets are different from engines designed for operation with natural gas. These are also available from leading manufacturers in America, Europe and China.
He said that the biggest problem country's industrial sector is facing is shortage of energy, but gas load-shedding is no solution to energy crisis, there is need to take some drastic steps. The solution to this problem lies in coal reserves of Pakistan but poor and weak implementation methodology on energy policies and projects is causing immense problems for country's economy, he added.
He said that around 25,000 industrial units have become sick and more than 400,000 people have lost their jobs owing to the prevailing energy crisis while deteriorating law and order situation had its bad impact on industrial growth, which haunted the economy.
Dr Samar said that the present distress in the industrial sector of Pakistan cannot wait for a few years for the solution, while the government cannot step in to alleviate the energy crisis due to lack of implementation on the energy policy.
He said that on average, 1 kilogram of coal produces 1 Kwh of electricity. The cost of the coal is Rs 6000 per ton whereas 1 unit of electricity will cost approximately Rs 7.50. Surface gasifiers are being manufactured in size for producing 300KW up to several MW/hour of electricity.
He said up till now three surface gasifiers have already been installed and are in operation in different industries. Another 18 gasifiers are currently on order awaiting delivery within the nest 6 to 8 weeks. This solution has become highly popular in the manufacturing sector of Pakistan.
"It is expected that by the end of the current year, significant number of our industries will be generating their own gas and electricity from coal, which would impact the economic growth of the country through enhanced manufacturing, increased employment, competitive exports as well as increase in the intensity of our mining sector," he added.
"We have lots of natural resources but if the technical experts would not perform their duty then we wouldn't be able to overcome this energy crisis", Dr Samar said, adding that this is our pilot project and I am very much confident that we would get good results and then we would implement it on larger scale.
Earlier, President RCCI Ali Raza has informed the honourable guest that owing to law and order situation and energy crisis foreign investors are reluctant to invest in the country. He said that it is a fact that local investors are also shifting their businesses to the neighbouring countries owing these issues. He demanded of the government to resolve the said issue soon to preserve the local industry.
Talking about availability of coal in Pakistan he said that the Chamalang Coal Field has reserves of approximately 50 million tons. This coal field has production of 2000 tons per day. Kost-Sharig-Harnai Coal Field has total reserves of 76 million tons. Annual production from the mines is about 225000 tons. Dukki Coal Field has total 51 million tons of coal reserves and annual mining capacity is almost three thousand tons.
The Quetta Coal Field has the reserves of about 50 million tons. Much Coal Field has the reserves of 23 million tons. Lakhra Coal Field has average annual production of 1.1 million tons. Salt Range Coal Field has reserves of about 235 million tons. Ali Raza Saeed Shah thanked Dr Samar for visiting RCCI and said that business community is also looking for alternative energy, as everyone is disturbed because of the energy crisis. At the end Syed Ali Raza Saeed also presented a souvenir to Dr Samar.