Lucky Electric commissions 660 MW coal power plant at Bin Qasim

Lucky Electric Power Company Limited (LEPCL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lucky Cement, has successfully completed the commissioning of its 660 MW supercritical, lignite coal-based power plant at Deh Ghangiaro, Bin Qasim, Karachi, stated a notification to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday.

Lucky Cement said the power plant was synchronised with the national grid towards the end of CY 2021 and since then has been involved in extensive testing and completing relevant inspections and commissioning, thereby achieving Commercial Operations Date (COD) on March 21, 2022.

“The power plant has been designed to operate on Thar Lignite Coal, subject to its availability; however, during the interim period, it will mainly operate on imported Lignite Coal till the completion of Phase III of Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC), which is expected in the second quarter of CY 2023,” read the notice.

660MW Lucky electric coal-fired plant: Rs 750 million foreign financing for evacuation of power to be arranged

The company said that the addition of 660 MW electricity to the national grid will not only play a key role in increasing the energy security and prosperity of Pakistan but will also go on to reduce the cost of electricity and reliance on imported fuel after completion of Phase III of SECMC.

It said with the completion of the power plant, the company’s portfolio of businesses has further diversified and now consists of local and international cement operations, automobile, chemicals and agri sciences, mobile phone assembling and energy.

Earlier in January, LEPCL, after successfully raising Rs7.9 billion debt financing in two tranches, awarded the Bank of Punjab (BOP) a third debt arrangement mandate by the company to raise an additional Rs 5 billion working capital.

Power generation in Pakistan witnessed an increase of 11.1% YoY to 8,088 GWh (12,036 MW) during February 2022, compared to 7,281 GWh (10,835 MW) during February 2021, showed latest data released by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA).

During February 2022, fuel cost for power generation increased by 89.6% YoY to an average of Rs8.94/KWh compared with average cost of Rs4.7/KWh during February 2021.