Lakhra Power Plant (also known as Lakhra Power Generation Company Limited or GENCO‑IV) is a 150‑megawatt lignite‑fired thermal power station located near the village of Khanot in

Jamshoro District Jamshoro District (, ) is a Districts of Sindh, Pakistan, district of Sindh province, Pakistan. Jamshoro city is the capital while Kotri is the largest city of the Jamshoro District. The district borders Dadu district to the north. To the east, th ...

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. It was commissioned in 1995 and uses indigenous coal from the adjacent Lakhra coalfield as the fuel.

History

Exploratory drilling during the 1960s confirmed sizeable lignite reserves at Lakhra, prompting proposals for a mine‑mouth power station. A series of feasibility studies by United States and Japanese aid agencies between 1967 and 1988 recommended a fluidised bed design capable of handling the coal's high moisture and sulphur content. The

Water and Power Development Authority The Pakistan Water & Power Development Authority (), colloquially known as WAPDA, is a Pakistani government-owned public utility agency maintaining hydropower and water in Pakistan, although it does not manage thermal power plants. WAPDA include ...

(

WAPDA The Pakistan Water & Power Development Authority (), colloquially known as WAPDA, is a Pakistani government-owned public utility agency maintaining hydropower and water in Pakistan, although it does not manage thermal power plants. WAPDA includes ...

) prepared the project’s PC‑1 in 1985, and China’s state‑owned

Dongfang Electric Dongfang Electric Corporation () is a Chinese state-owned manufacturer of power generators and the contracts of power station projects. According to Platts, in 2009-10 the company was the second largest manufacturer of steam turbines by worldwi ...

extended supplier credit that same year. Equipment and construction contracts were signed in August 1989 and February 1990 respectively. Three circulating fluidised bed units, each rated at 50 MW, entered commercial operation on 6 June 1995, 14 October 1995 and 3 January 1996. The boilers were built under licence from

Foster Wheeler Foster Wheeler AG (formerly Foster Wheeler Inc.) was a Swiss global engineering conglomerate with its principal executive offices in Reading, UK and its registered office in Baar, Canton of Zug, Switzerland. Foster Wheeler was added to the NASD ...

, while turbines and generators were supplied by Dongfang. An energy and exergy audit of Unit 2 published in 2021 reported condenser losses of 68 percent and an overall exergy efficiency of 17.6 percent under off‑design conditions, well below the nominal benchmark of 26 percent. In March 2023, the

Senate of Pakistan The Senate of Pakistan, Constitution of Pakistan, constitutionally the House of the Federation, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Pakistan. As of 2023, It has a maximum membership of 96, of which 92 are elected by the Member of th ...

’s Standing Committee on Power heard that many employees had gone unpaid or been redeployed after the government classified the plant as “high‑cost and low‑efficiency.”

Financing and ownership

Initial capital expenditures were met chiefly through Dongfang’s export seller credit, complemented by federal development funds for site infrastructure and grid interconnection. The station was corporatised in 2001 as Lakhra Power Generation Company Limited (LPGCL), one of four state‑owned generation companies. A 20‑year lease concluded in 2006 with Associated Power Generation Company to run the complex was annulled by the

Supreme Court of Pakistan The Supreme Court of Pakistan (; ''Adālat-e-Uzma Pākistān'') is the apex court in the Judiciary of Pakistan, judicial hierarchy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Established in accordance witPart VIIof the Constitution of Pakistan, it h ...

in 2013 for lack of transparency.

Environmental concerns

Lakhra lignite contains 9–38 percent ash and up to 14 percent sulphur, with gross calorific values between 5,500 and 9,100 BTU lb⁻¹. These characteristics necessitate limestone injection and particulate control, both of which have historically under‑performed, generating visible emissions and local air‑quality complaints.

References

{{Water and Power Development Authority Coal-fired power stations in Pakistan Energy infrastructure completed in 1996 Buildings and structures in Jamshoro District 1996 establishments in Pakistan