RAWALPINDI - The first Coal Fuelled Power Generation Conference - 2012 was organised by Attock Gen Limited (AGL) on Tuesday at Morgah Club.
AGL is the member company of the Attock Oil Group of Companies/Attock Refinery Limited (ARL).
Imminent speakers, top government officials and experts from diverse fields of energy sector and industry participated in this conference. The aim of this conference was to develop understanding of investor’s needs by all levels of decision makers and to provide meaningful networking opportunities with leading industry leaders and policymakers in Pakistan regarding use of coal as fuel in power generation.
In his opening address, Chief Executive Officer ARL Adil Khattak highlighted the significance of Coal Fueled Power Generation in Pakistan. He said that Pakistan today was faced with crippling energy crisis resulting in slashing of GDP growth by 2-3 per cent. Transformation of the energy mix for power generation from hydel rich to thermal over the last three decades and decreasing indigenous natural gas availability has resulted in overwhelming dependence on expensive imported furnace oil, he said. The demand and supply gap which is currently exceeding 6000 MW is likely to double in near future. 
He emphasised on the urgent need for accelerating the efforts for the development of indigenous and cheaper energy resources. Khattak said that Pakistan is gifted with unlimited human and natural resources, but we failed to capitalize on these resources. Coal is fueling more than 50% of power generation in the neighboring countries China and India and 40% worldwide but less than 1 percent in Pakistan in spite of being blessed with huge resources of more than 175 billion tons in “Thar” only. Although neglected in the past, coal has lately shot up to dominate majority of energy related discussions and debates in the country.   Investors and project developers today are looking at policy makers, scientists and technologists for providing conducive environment supported by attractive incentives, reliable, efficient, safe and cost effective solutions for coal based power generation, he said.
He urged the participants to make the most of this truly unique opportunity by committing to engage in an open and honest dialogue with a sole purpose of supporting and providing sustainable and efficient solutions to problems confronting coal energy projects for the bright future that Pakistan deserves.
During the one day conference 10 papers were read with topics ranging from an overview of coal consumption in Pakistan, efficient transportation of coal to power plants, production of high quality motor fuel from syngas, government policy/risk coverage/regulatory regime for coal based projects, utilization of indigenous coal for power generation, coal vs. pet coke and other fossil fuels for power generation, coal - the present solution for Pakistan, engineering technologies for power generation based on high pressure coal fired boilers, coal power plants and use of steam turbines, and transforming existing challenges to opportunities.