PPIB willing to revive 330MW SEL project

ISLAMABAD: Private Power & Infrastructure Board (PPIB) has reportedly shown willingness to revive 330-MW Siddiqsons Energy Limited (SEL) mine-mouth power project, as it will make Thar coal gasification economically viable for making synthesis gas available for urea fertilizer production, well informed sources told Business Recorder.

Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Effective Governance, Dr. Jehanzeb who has held two meetings on the project, is actively pursuing the case with PPIB, the sources added.

“The project needs to achieve financial close urgently after obtaining fullest support from GoP interfaces to shift the power off-take to KE from CPPA (G),” the sources said adding that Prime Minister has recently inaugurated Thar Coal phase-2 mine and 330MW mine-mouth Thar Energy Limited Power Project with the participation of all the related interfaces of the power sector on October 10.

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The sources said, SEL project will accrue the following key benefits to the national economy : (i) it will result in huge foreign exchange saving of $ 280 million per annum due to imported coal substitution for generating 330MW power using indigenous Thar coal; (ii) foreign exchange component of $ 200 million for the project capital cost would be recovered within 8 months after the project achieving Commercial Operations Date (COD); (iii) it will offer lowest tariff of Cents 7.3/kWh; (iv) it will be second highest on the dispatch merit order; (v) it will result in saving of $ 60 million per annum due to scalability of Thar mine to phase 3 by supplying additional 1.9M tons/ annum coal to SEL project for generating 330MW power; and (vi) it will reduce cost of the Thar coal to $27/ton due to Thar coal mine scalability.

According to energy sector experts, it will reduce the power generation cost of all the mine-mouth power projects at Thar and also make coal gasification economically viable for making synthesis gas available for urea fertilizer production at Thar and achieve huge foreign exchange saving by avoiding import of urea as the country would need a world scale ammonia-urea complex by 2029-30 as per the supply-demand projection of urea.

The project will also enable producing petrochemicals from coal gasification at Thar and thus reducing huge import bills for such products in the country.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022