Delaying coal energy projects is not in the national interests:PEW

Lahore: The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Tuesday said abandoning or delaying some of the critical coal energy projects is not in the national interests.

Chinese companies have invested a lot in some of the important coal-fired projects therefore putting them on the backburner may have a negative impact on the cordial bilateral relations, it said.

World’s top importers on LNG including Japan, Korea, China, and Europe has not scrapped coal in favour of LNG therefore Pakistan can also reconsider decision, said Dr. Murtaza Mughal, President PEW.

He said that employing latest carbon capture technology can help power plants run on coal without environmental concerns.

Dr. Murtaza Mughal said that this technology keeps environment clean by capturing  poisonous gases, saves them and could be transported to dormant gas fields.

These gases including carbon dioxide are pumped into the sleeping oilfields bringing up hard-to-reach oil for oil for extraction. When operations finish, these gases are permanently and safely stored in the wells by sealing them.

He said that a medium-sized coal-fired power plant with carbon capture technology would capture one million tonnes of gases and the emission levels would be four times lower than the power plants being run on natural gas in the developed nations.

Dr. Mughal said that we have coal reserves that can run for centuries, they are immune form international energy market volatility and supply chain disruption therefore it must be utilised in the national interest.