1,320MW coal-fired Hub power plant commissioned

The government confirmed successful commercial operations of a $2 billion 1,320MW coal-fired power plant set up by the China Power Hub Generation Company (CPHGC) under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.

"M/s CPHGC has successfully undergone through commissioning tests as per the agreed procedure. The engineer has certified the successful commissioning of the complex," said a notification issued by the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) - a government-owned subsidiary responsible for procuring power from plants and selling them to distribution companies.

The CPPA said the power producer had called for declaring its commercial operation date (COD) from Aug 17, 2019, while its engineer - SGS - had also issued certificate of initial tested capacity that came out at 1,249MW.

Therefore, it called upon the National Power Control Centre (NPCC) to issue dispatch instructions to the CPHGC keeping in view the system requirements.

Separately, the CPHGC announced that it had successfully declared the COD of its 1,320MW (2x660) imported coal power plant and integrated jetty with coal transhipment capacity of 4.2 million tonnes per annum.

The CPHGC is a joint venture between the Hub Power Company (Hubco) and China Power International Holding (CPIH) and a part of early harvest energy projects under the CPEC framework agreement.

The government had approved the processing of 1,320MW imported coalbased power project at Hub in November 2014 and the joint venture of Hubco and CPIH was issued letter of intent in June 2015. The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) had approved the upfront tariff for the power project in February 2016.

The Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) of the CPEC included a 660MW unit of the project in the list of ' priority projects' and the remaining 660MW in ' actively promoted projects' under CPEC framework agreement of Nov 8, 2014.

As the questions about 'capacity trap' started arising, the government had decided in 2016 to give up one of the two 660MW plants to contain reliance on imported fuels and reduce foreign exchange losses. However, it was compelled to restore the full capacity after the Chinese partner of the joint venture took up the matter at the highest level and then followed it up at the 6th JCC meeting in December 2016.