By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: Nine Energy projects have so far been completed under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), boosting the energy needs of Pakistan.
These new projects have contributed 5340 MW of electricity to the main grid, helping meet the country’s vital needs for industry, agriculture, and domestic consumers. Out of a total of 22 projects, another eight are near completion and would pump in an additional 4470 MW of electricity to the national grid. Another five projects are in the planning and implementation phase.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the electricity generated by the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) energy projects accounted for about one-third of Pakistan’s electricity supply, according to the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan.
With the joint efforts of both the Chinese and Pakistani employees, the Chinese-built power plant that has two 660-MW supercritical units, has generated some 6.5 billion kWh of electricity in 2020 alone, and produced over 29.1 billion kWh of electricity so far since it was put into commercial operation in 2017. Besides the Sahiwal power plant, all the other CPEC projects have also strived to overcome challenges posed by the pandemic to make their construction and operation basically normal.
Chairman of Pak-China Business and Investment Promotion Council Amanullah Khan told media that after the pandemic gripped Pakistan, CPEC energy projects appeared as a major support for Pakistan’s economic and social activities.
When the COVID-19 lockdown was eased in Pakistan, almost all sectors of business, trade and industries started working quickly, and the reason behind this is that CPEC energy projects have been actively and efficiently producing a big chunk of Pakistan’s total energy supply, Khan said.
“Now, even though the pandemic is still there, CPEC energy projects are playing a vital role in helping Pakistan’s industries to run at full,” Khan added. This much needed relief has been possible solely CPEC power initiatives, especially coal-fired power plants.
It is pertinent to mention that share of coal in power generation had remained in single digit over the past two decades. However, in the current fiscal year, it reached to the height of 12.7 percent.
Story of feat to power up Pakistan commenced when at least 18 to 19 projects out of 39 Earlier Harvest Projects (EHP) worth around US $34 billion, equivalent to 70 percent of the CPEC funding basket, were earmarked for energy projects.
