Wood is being used as a short- term solution, while the other options are being used as long- term alternatives, The Express Tribune has learnt.
Around 800 processing units in Lahore, Sahiwal, Sheikhupura and Sialkot have started using wood for steam generation after modifying boilers that earlier used to operate on gas. Many other units are also preparing to avail the same option.
Textile, chemical, dyeing, paper, food and many other industries are opting for this expensive option as they have no other choice. One ton steam generation on steam boilers, using wood, will cost 45 per cent more than gas, while around 48 tons of wood will be required for running the boiler all the day.
If the same boiler is operated using coal, it is likely to cost 24 per cent more, while furnace oil will hike the cost of same by 70 per cent, compared to gas.
The price of wood is also increasing rapidly, following demand and supply gap, due to rising consumption at domestic and industrial levels.
Chairman, All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association (Aptma), Maqsood Ahmad Butt is of the view that the industry is bound to go for alternative energy sources, and it will eventually select the source that will cost lower than gas.
He underlined that wood is not a sustainable solution to the problem. “Pakistan does not have enough forests that can meet the industrial needs,” Butt added.
He said that “biomass” can prove to be the best energy alternative, as 50,000 tons of solid waste is being collected across the country and it has no cost except collection and transportation. “There is a need to rejuvenate the solid waste management authority that is working under the provincial government,” he added.
He said that underdeveloped countries desperately need to use solid waste as a source of energy and it is the most viable option for Pakistan too. “Options, other than solid waste, can be cotton stalks and switch grass that has no production cost and are being produced every year in adequate quantity,” he said, adding the latter two just require marketing arrangement that will ensure supply on proper rates.
Mian Anjum Nisar, former president of Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industries (LCCI) was of the view that coal is the best alternative energy source that is available locally and Pakistan just needs to exploit it.
He explained that industrialists are in search of the best alternative energy and they will go for the cheapest and instant alternative that can restore industry functioning. He identified rice husk as the second best alternate to coal.
Nisar agreed that wood cannot be used as a long- term alternate solution for industrial consumption.
Officials of the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) said the industrialist’s attempt for acquiring self- dependent energy can be a major development that can help Pakistan in getting out of its energy crisis. They said that AEDB is prepared to facilitate any sector, public or private, in attaining energy on self- help basis.
They further said that there are some projects in the country working in collaboration with various sugar units, which will be operational soon. They said that biomass and rice husk can replace energy sources quite efficiently.
Minister for Textile Industry, Rana Farooq Saeed said the government will appreciate efforts by industries that are attaining energy-efficiency. “The Economic Coordination Committee has decided to import Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) for domestic and industrial consumers and LNG supply to all sectors will be started by the end of 2011,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 27th, 2011.
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