Thar coal-based 330 MW power plant achieves COD

In a key development, the 330 MW Mine-Mouth Coal-Fired Power Generation Complex (TN) located at Thar Block II in Sindh has achieved its Commercial Operations Date (COD) on February 17.

The development was shared by Hub Power Company Limited (HUBCO) in a notice to Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday.

“TN is a joint venture (JV) between (i) Hub Power Holdings Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Hub Power Company Limited (HUBCO); (ii) Thal Power (Private) Limited; (iii) Nova Powergen Limited; (iv) CMEC ThalNova Power Investments Limited; and (v) Descon Engineering Limited,” read the notice.

It added that the JV was formed for the purpose of establishing a 330 MW Mine-Mouth Coal-Fired Power Generation Complex at Thar Block II, District Tharparkar, Sindh, Pakistan under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

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“The project has successfully achieved commissioning, with the Commercial Operations Date (COD) to take effect from February 17, 2023, in terms of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) dated July 21, 2017 entered into between TN and the Central Power Purchasing Agency (Guarantee) Limited (CPPA-G).

“With this achievement, the collective power generation capacity of HUBCO and its group companies has increased to 3,581 MW through the plants spread over Balochistan, Punjab, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Sindh,” the notice said.

The company said that the project will be generating low-cost energy from indigenous Thar coal thus reducing the burden on national foreign exchange resources.

“Completion of the project would have not been possible without the support extended by the Government of Pakistan, Government of Sindh, Government of China and all other private stakeholders,” it added.

Pakistan plans to quadruple its domestic coal-fired capacity to reduce power generation costs, its energy minister told Reuters, as it seeks to ease a crippling foreign-exchange crisis.

A shortage of natural gas, which accounts for over a third of the country’s power output, plunged large areas into hours of darkness last year. A surge in global prices of liquefied natural gas (LNG) after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and an onerous economic crisis had made LNG unaffordable for Pakistan.

Earlier, the Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) announced the achievement of COD of the 1,320 MW, Shanghai project located at Thar Block-1 and implemented under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The project developed by Thar Coal Block-1 Power Generation Co, a fully-owned subsidiary of Shanghai Electric attracted valuable foreign direct investment of $1.912 billion which is expected to generate 9 billion units of electricity per annum with anticipated savings of Rs250 billion/annum