By By Mir Adnan Aziz
5/4/2008Coal has always been a dirty four-letter word in our power vocabulary. Reluctantly and only recently, have the policymakers been forced to look at indigenous coal as a serious power generation option. Contrary to popular perception, coal not oil is the single largest source of global energy.

Of late gas-fired power generation is also being promoted in tandem with oil. Ironically, the same was not done when we had plentiful gas reserves. Now that we might have to import it, the policymakers have suddenly woken up anew to its benefits. Share of gas in the IPP’s energy generation has actually fallen since 2004 from 75 per cent to 56 per cent due to shortages.

Pakistan’s rivers have (or had) the potential to generate 40,0000MW of cheap hydel power. At present we are facing a severe water shortage due to the effects of global warming and the construction of upstream dams like Baghliar and Kishan Ganga by India in violation of the Indus Water Treaty. It is ironically now that we hear the aggressive hyperbole advocating construction of mega dams for hydel power generation. Apart from being rife with political connotations does our recent telemetry of the Indus River System support these grandiose schemes? Likewise with the ever-spiraling oil prices, relying on indigenous coal is the only medium-to-long-term solution to our energy and economic woes.

The world generates 38 per cent of its power from coal. Germany, the USA, the UK, India and China generate more than 50 per cent of their electric power from coal. Australia, Poland and South Africa are dependent upon coal for more than 80 per cent of their energy needs. Indonesia generates 93 per cent of its electricity from coal. Pakistan with coal deposits of 185 billion tons, astoundingly, does not generate even 1 per cent of its electricity from coal.

The only coal based power generation plant of any significance in the country (with an installed capacity of 150MW) is Lakhra Power. For most of its long chequered history, the plant has either been closed or has operated at less than 50 per cent capacity utilisation.

Thar Coal Field in Sindh, with LigniteñB (Brown Coal) deposits of 175 billion tones makes up for 94 per cent of our total coal reserves. It is spread over an area of 9,100 square kilometers in Tharparkar. Only 350 square kilometers, 3.8 per cent of this vast coal field has been geologically investigated which verified deposits of 12 billion tons. This itself is sufficient to generate more than 40,000MW electricity for decades to come. Lignite-B is hazardous to stack and does not lend itself to easy transportation. Such deposits, worldwide, are considered ideal for mine mouth power generation.

continued ..................

http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=110536

if you didnt have enough of a reason to hate that country already, there is another one.

I cant understand why Pakistan does not utilize its coal. We have the biggest reserves of coal in the world at Ther area. And if a huge country like CXhina is producing 65% of there power from coal, than what is wrong with us?
Before 4 Years I worked in Pakistan on Askari Cement and Fouji Cement Projects....These two plants switched -over from Furnace Oil to Coal. We fabricated and Erected Coal Grinding Mills in collaboration with a German Firm. ...Both Plants recovered the upgradation/modification cost within an year....So you can imagine.

thats what the article talks about in greater detail in the area i cut out. you can read the entire article from that link. i cut out the rest because i didnt think most people would have the time to read through it all.

but along with that aspect of power generation. we're facing a water shortage as well. and thats because of the illegal consturction of dams by india. i dont know why we dont see more of an outrage by our limp politicians. we gave that freakin country a discount for the IPI gas pipeline knowing they are responsible for stealing our water. ARGH!!!

Simply fire two Ghouri Misiles on each of these dams......Problem shall be solved.

agreed.

exactly ! its mind-boggling why we are not utilizing our resources. US produces 57% of its electricity from coal. Together with coal and alternate energy systems, our electricity problems can be solved.

__________________
[B][I]Taqdeer kay paband jamatat-o-nabatat
Momin sirf ihkam-e-Ilahi ka hai paband[/I][/B]

Kanjoos hain aur kahil hain

__________________
[SIZE=1]We are now all Pakistanis--not Baluchis, Pathans, Sindhis, Bengalis, Punjabis and so on-Quaid-e-Azam[/SIZE]

Bachchon waali baatein that derail an otherwise good thread..

Btw, if our army couldn't do much in 65 [we mention chawinda but what about our blunders in pattonnagar?] what do you will happen now with the superior equipped indian forces? I just read an article and india is getting newer t90 tanks with new gunships etc so they can do a blitzkrieg in a future war!

PS It is with musharraf that we even have started talks of challenging the indians on the dam [though not so successful?]. Like it or not, before his popularity dive last year and for all his mistakes, the guy did have some ideas. I expected more from nawaz sharif, being a businessman, but that son of the soil gadha only has dictatorial tendencies like bhutto with no sadly no intelligent matter.. Pakistan should have started construction of dams in the nineties while india hadn't started as then pakistan would have the right of way on some rivers according to the indus treaty.

Allah Ko Pamardi-e-Moumin Pe Bharosa....
Iblees Ko Euorope Ki Machinoun Ka Sahara

Ghairat Hay Barri Cheez Jahan-e-Tag-o-Dow Mein
Pehnati Hay Darwaish Ko Taj-e-Sar-e-Dara.........

Kaafir Hay To Shamsheer Pe Karta Hay Bharosa
Moumin Hay To Bai-Teegh Bhi Larrta Hay Sipahi

Whose shairi is this? Iqbal?
PS I am not a big fan of poets.. consider them a waste of time except few maybe some poetry of iqbal!

Btw, we aren't momin in the exact sense as the shair implies so then what should we do?

Aur we love being backwards

actually i quite agree with Resonant on this one. its not like india hasnt always been better equiped and in a larger number, an advantage of having a large population. but when push comes to shove I agree on field testing Babur.

after world bank's ruling that india's dams and its levies to divert the water are illegal that country has done nothing. you mentioned once water was very important to sindh, so what is your suggestion? from the indus treaty the water of Chenab belongs SOLELY to us. those cockroaches have already emptied out Ravi. what do you suggest we stay quiet and let them do whatever they want?

and nawaz is a crooked bastard like the rest of them, plus the cockroachs started building the dam only in 1999 so there wasnt a whole lot the ganja could have done.

thanks for putting baglihar in historical context, s6demon. the whole baglihar cntroversy happened in musharraf's time and pakistan was lax in fighting for the indus water treaty which india declares as outdated. however, musharraf certainly had the right idea when he pushed for building more dams.

coal is not the cleanest fuel in environmental terms but considering how critical our energy needs are (six to seven hours of loadshedding in lahore right now) that can be overlooked.

the article says a Chinese company Shenhua Group has been raring to go but both Shaukat Aziz and the new sindh govt have messed up big time by not capitalizing on this oppurtunity. depressing stuff.

i know, sometimes it seems impossible to get anything meaningful done in our country through all the political riff raff. but what i dont get is that why is a chinese company contracted to do the mining which we should be able to do on our own??

i am seeing a troubling increase in the dubai way of getting things done in our country, by simply paying for them. our contract with the chinese over the sindak mine was to gradually train our people to do the work. but the handing over could be 30 years away. i certainly dont want to wait that long for the sindak mine, nor for the coal mining now. there is no reason we shouldnt be able to mine our own resources and put them to use ourselves, instead of vying outside help at every single juncture. ENOUGH ALREADY.