Mansoor Sadiq

Energy projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) improved the electricity supply in Pakistan and reduced loadshedding by 70%. Farooq Shaukat, Information Officer at National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC), said while talking to WealthPK that CPEC energy projects significantly improved the energy sector in Pakistan with higher efficiency at lower costs. The installed capacity of CPEC energy projects is estimated at 6,570MW.

Farooq said that CPEC energy projects have developed Pakistan’s capacity to utilise Thar coal and produce electricity at lower costs. Under the green CPEC energy framework, four hydro power projects have been either completed or are in the development stage including run-of-the-river 720MW Karot Hydro Power Project, 840MW Suki Kinari HPP, and a 640MW project recently approved in Mahl.

“Similarly, under the CPEC energy framework, once a barren land in Jhimpir has been transformed into a wind corridor,” Farooq siad. He said four wind farms built in the area with a total installed capacity of 300MW have supplied economical and clean energy to the national grid. In Bahawalpur, Pakistan’s first ever solar power plant in Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park has been installed.

The plant was initially launched with a capacity of generating 100MW power. Following 2015, there has been an addition of 300MW power generation capacity. Numerous projects with a cumulative capacity of 1,050MW have been planned for Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park by the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB). The CPEC energy projects in Pakistan include 1,320MW Sahiwal coal-fired power plant; 1,320MW coal-fired power plant at Port Qasim Karachi; 1,320MW China Hub coal power project, Balochistan; 660MW Engro Thar coal power project; 1,000MW Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park, Bahawalpur; 50MW Hydro China Dawood wind farm, Gharo Thatta; 100MW UEP wind farm, Jhimpir, Thatta; 50MW Sachal wind farm, Jhimpir, Thatta; 100MW .

Three Gorges second and third wind power project; Matiari to Lahore ±660KV HVDC (high-voltage direct current) transmission line project; 4,000MW evacuation capacity, 720MW Karot hydropower project; AJK/Punjab, 330MW HUBCO Thar coal power project (Thar Energy); 1,320MW SSRL Thar Coal Block-I 7.8 mtpa (million tons per annum) and power plant (2×660MW) (Shanghai Electric); 330MW HUBCO ThalNova Thar coal power project.

The under construction projects include 884MW Suki Kinari HPP; 300MW coal-fired power project at Gwadar; 1,124MW Kohala HPP, AJK; 700.7MW Azad Pattan HPP, AJK/Punjab; 1,320MW Thar Mine Mouth Oracle power plant and surface mine; 50MW Cacho wind power project; and 50MW Western Energy (Pvt.) Ltd. wind power project.

With the help of these energy projects, Pakistan has been banking on CPEC to overcome power shortages. Shaukat Farooq informed that during the last one year, 1,980MW electricity has been added to the system from Thar coal reserves besides 720MW and 1,100MW from Karot HPP and K-3 nuclear power plants to relieve the public from power outages.

Credit: INP-WealthPk