Faisalabad Sitara Chemical power plant

Part of the Global Coal Plant Tracker, a Global Energy Monitor project.

Download full dataset

Report an error

Related coal trackers:

Global Coal Mine Tracker Global Coal Terminals Tracker Global Coal Project Finance Tracker

Faisalabad Sitara Chemical power plant is an operating power station of at least 40-megawatts (MW) in Faisalabad, Punjab province, Pakistan with multiple units, some of which are not currently operating.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Faisalabad Sitara Chemical power plant	Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Punjab province, Pakistan	31.522924, 73.388223 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the power station.

Loading map...

{"type":"HYBRID","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"600px","height":"500px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"visitedicon":"","wmsoverlay":false,"zoom":16,"layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview","rotate"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"cluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":31.522924,"lon":73.388223,"icon":""}]}

Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

• Unit 1, Unit 2: 31.522924, 73.388223

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name	Status	Fuel(s)	Capacity (MW)	Technology	Start year
Unit 1	operating	coal: unknown	40	CFB	2016
Unit 2	construction	coal: unknown	40	unknown	2024 (planned)

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name	Owner	Parent
Unit 1	Sitara Chemical Industries Ltd [100%]	Sitara Chemical Industries Ltd [100.0%]
Unit 2	Sitara Chemical Industries Ltd [100%]	Pak

Project-level captive use details

• Captive industry use (heat or power): power
• Captive industry: Chemicals
• Non-industry use: power

Background

The 40 MW coal plant at Sitara Chemical Industries was inaugurated by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in September 2016. The project supplies their chemical facility, and any excess power is provided to the grid.

Proposed Expansion

In a notice issued to the Pakistan Stock Exchange on October 21, 2020, Sitara expressed interest in expanding its coal fired power plant by 40 MW. The company indicated it was willing to invest Rs5.5 billion (US$35 million) in doing so.

According to Daily Pakistan Today, this represents more than twice the sum of money it invested in expanding its core business in 2019-2020, and raises significant questions not just about the kind of infrastructure that exists in Pakistan for large scale manufacturing, but also for the potentially highly skewed incentives currently on offer by the government of Pakistan to companies that set up coal-fired power generation units.

As of October 2020, the project was expected to be completed by December 2022.

In January 2021, the company signed a contract with M/s Shandong Yangzhuo Energy Development Co., Limited (SYEDCL) for the engineering design of the project. A kick off meeting for the expansion was held on January 15, 2021.

As of November 2022, Sitara reported that with the changing economic scenario and increase in imported coal prices, the company had redesigned the expansion project to use lignite coal (both local and imported) as feed stock. The new Unit would have the flexibility of using both local lignite coal or imported bituminous coal or any mix of these coals. Sitara further reported that work on the expansion was in progress, and negotiations with technology suppliers and with the engineering design company had been completed for major equipment (boiler, turbine and generator). The project was expected to be completed by June 2024.

Planet satellite imagery from 2022 seemed to show work was taking place at the site.

In their 2023 annual report, which was published in September 2023, Sitara stated that "civil work" on the expansion was in progress and some of the boiler, turbine, and generator equipment had arrived at the site.

As of February 2024, the expansion project was still "in progress". In May 2024, equipment for Unit 2 was reportedly still being procured.

Financing

Unit 1: In June 2014, a financing agreement for Unit 1 of the project was closed. US$12,478,000 in loans was provided by MCB Bank, United Bank Limited, and Meezan Bank Limited. Meezan Bank Limited acted as financial adviser.

Unit 2: The company stated in October 2020 that the project would be financed through borrowing from Islamic banks. As per the rating report from VIS from June 2024, the construction of the plant is being financed with 77% debt and 23% equity. The total project cost is PKR 10.5 bln (ca USD 38 million), of which PKR 4.8 bln has already been secured through bank financing. The remaining funding requirements will be met through an additional PKR 1 bln loan from a bank and PKR 2.3 bln from the issuance of Sukuk.

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.