Jamshoro power plant’s Thar coal shift hits hurdles: study

KARACHI: A feasibility study on converting the Jamshoro coal-fired power plant from imported to Thar coal is under way, but prospects for the transition appear dim due to several obstacles, chiefly objections from international lenders.

Government officials and private sector experts told The News that the plan has yet to be implemented, even though the plant continues to operate on imported coal. The Jamshoro project comprises a 600MW pulverised coal super-critical unit.

Experts argue that the problem lies not only in the type of coal used but also in its serious environmental implications. They warned that using locally mined coal for power generation could inflict even greater damage on the surrounding environment.

Energy sector sources said the reliability test run (RTR) of the 660MW unit has also faced setbacks, as local coal contains significantly higher ash content and a lower British thermal unit (BTU) value than the imported, performance-grade coal originally specified.

Last year, the government decided to convert all imported coal-fired power plants to local coal in a bid to conserve foreign exchange and reduce electricity tariffs for consumers.

Zain Moulvi, an energy and environment expert, said the Jamshoro project faces multiple challenges. The Asian Development Bank (ADB), which financed the plant, has yet to approve the shift to local coal, as the conversion would breach loan terms requiring the plant to run on a blend of 80 per cent imported sub-bituminous coal and 20 per cent Thar lignite.

He added that the project’s environmental impact assessment was inadequate, lacking a risk analysis of local coal mining while proposing alarming measures such as burying contaminated soil on site and discharging wastewater into the Indus River. “The site is already degraded, with elevated baseline levels of key pollutants,” he noted.

Moulvi said that beyond the financial inefficiency, the greatest concern is environmental degradation. “Imported coal already causes significant harm, but locally mined coal, with its lower quality and higher ash content, would pose an even greater risk to the area,” he warned.

Officials in the Power Division, however, downplayed the issues, saying such problems often arise during test runs and are usually resolved over time. “The plant is operational on imported coal, and the feasibility study for conversion to local coal is under way,” an official from the Central Power Purchasing Agency (Guarantee), which works under the division, told The News. He added that the Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB) is conducting the study, and the situation will become clearer once it is completed.