The 330-megawatt (MW) power plant operated by Hub Power Company Limited (HUBCO), which burns coal from Tharparkar, officially began supplying electricity to the national grid on Friday at Islamkot. This new 330MW addition, which was officially opened by Minister of State Mahesh Malani, would increase Thar’s coal contribution to electricity generation to 3,000MW.
Syed Murad Ali Shah, the chief minister of Sindh, was unable to launch the power plant since his flight was canceled due to severe weather. The minister received a project update from Kamran Kamal and Saleemullah Memon, the chief executive officers of Hubco Group and ThalNova.
The project is a joint venture between Hubco, Thal Engineering, Novatex Limited, and China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), which is also the EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) contractor. It is a part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The Covid-19 epidemic caused a delay in construction that started in March of 2019.
ThalNova will make use of the domestic coal that Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company is currently extracting from Thar Coal Block II. The price of producing electricity from the coal in Tharparkar is Rs. 9 per KW/hr. In contrast, the cost of producing one KW/HR of power using imported coal is at least Rs20.
