NEPRA approves selling price for CPEC’s first Thar coal power plant

ISLAMABAD,June 18(Gwadar Pro) - National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has approved the final selling price for 660 megawatts Thar coal-based Engro Thar Powergen Ltd. (ETPL), the regulator said.

ETPL is an early-harvest indigenous-coal based power project under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and the first ever Thar coal-based power plant, which started commercial operation on July 10,2019. Engro Group owns 51% share in the project while China Machinery Engineering Corp. (CMEC) owns 35% share. CMEC is also the engineering and procurement contractor(EPC)of the project. China Development Bank, China Construction Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China provided $621 million for the project while Pakistani banks contributed Rs24.15 billion. The project is located in Thar Block II in Tharparkar district of Sindh.

NEPRA determined the Commercial Operations Date (COD)-stage tariff for the project at Rs14.84 per unit of electricity for the first 10 years, and Rs9.32 for the next 20 years. The levelized tariff for the 30-year concessional agreement period came out asRs12.95 per unit, the notification read.

NEPRA determined the total project cost at $952 million while the coal price has been assessed at Rs67.5 per ton. The imported coal based power plants have quoted coal price of above Rs200 per ton for the month of May in their fuel charges claims submitted to NEPRA.

Documents suggest that the Thar coal-based power plants will not only save big amounts being spent on imported coal but will also provide cheaper electricity, as the final tariff for ETPL is even less than the fuel cost component of imported-coal based power plants for the month of May.

The 1,320MW Thar Coal Block-I is another CPEC project being executed by Shanghai Electric in Tharparkar district.