The first 660-megawatt unit of Shanghai Electric 1,320 MW Thar coal-based power plant has been connected to the national grid.
The first 660-megawatt unit of Shanghai Electric 1,320 MW Thar coal-based power plant has been connected to the national grid. The development shared by Federal Minister for Power through a statement on twitter handle on Sunday.
The minister termed the addition of low-cost electricity from indigenous resources as a good news and added that it was the fruit of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative.
Shanghai Electric is the sponsor of two 660 MWs ultra-supercritical coal-fired power plants in Block-I of the Thar Desert in Sindh province. The project also includes an integrated coal mine of 7.8 million tons per annum capacity.
According to another tweet retweeted by the Federal Minister for Power, the other 660 MW unit will also be connected to the national grid on Monday (Dec 5) after which both units will collectively start contributing 1,320 MWs electricity to the national grid.
At this stage, the Thar Coal power plants will start contributing electricity to the national grid for testing purposes before commencing commercial operations, a source said.
According to the Thar Coal Block-1 Generation Co. (TCB-1), the power plants are capable of providing affordable energy to four million households. TCB-1 is a subsidiary of Shanghai Electric and the owner of the power plant.
Shanghai Electric Thar Block-1 Coal Project is being developed under the umbrella of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) through Project Company i.e. TCB-I while M/s Shanghai Electric Group Company is the main sponsor of this project. The project utilizes Thar Coal supplied by Sino Sindh Resources Limited which is executing coal mining operations for coal extraction in the Thar coalfield Block-I.
In May 2008, the Government of Sindh invited proposals for the development of Thar Coal reserves through a public-private partnership basis. The Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) was formed as a joint venture between Government of Sindh (GoS) and Engro Corporation in October 2009 in order to develop of mining at Thar Coal Block II of the Thar coalfield.
Originally published at Pakistan Today