Chinese company installs free solar power plants at Bahawalpur hospital

China’s renewable energy solutions conglomerate Zonergy has installed four solar power plants at different buildings of BahawalVictoria Hospital in Bahawalpur, Gwadar Pro reported on Saturday. The plants, having a total peak generation capacity of 325kW, have been installed by the Chinese company free of cost under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) agreement with the government of Punjab.

A 40kW solar power plant was set up at the hospital’s blood bank, which caters for the whole region. Other plants were installed at the emergency building and cardiac and kidney centres. The solar plants also have storage facilities, which will resolve the issue of power outages at the hospital’s critical departments.

The administration of the hospital has recognised and appreciated Zonergy for the completion of the project at one of the key hospitals in a relatively less-developed area of Punjab. Zonergy has completed a 300 megawatts solar power plant project in Bahawalpur under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative. The company will expand the project up to 900 MWs with a total investment of US$1.5 billion. The project caters for the need of 200,000 households and has created 3,000 jobs for Pakistani youth.

The company’s CSR initiative also includes an annual internship programme for two public-sector universities of Bahawalpur, installation of solar power plants (20+25 kW) at two degree colleges, a 15 kW solar power plant at the Bhaili Higher Secondary School, Multan,5kW solar power plant in emergency departments of two hospitals at Bahawalpur and Multan. The offer also includes development of two resource centres for training on solar and other renewable energy technologies at two universities of Bahawalpur and Multan, installation of 180 kW solar power plant at Nishtar Hospital, Multan and installation of water filtration plant in Bahawalpur.

Meanwhile, according to another Gwadar Pro’s report, China Machinery Engineering Corp. (CMEC) successfully commissioned two gas turbines (405 MWs each) of the Punjab Thermal Power Ltd. (PTPL) power plant in the Jhang district. “We have started simple-cycle commercial operations from the two RLNG-based gas turbines of total 810 megawatts capacity”, PTPL said. Work on the 443 MWs steam turbine is also underway at fast pace to achieve the combined-cycle commercial operations, it added.

CMEC executed the project as the EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contractor. PTPL has also signed an agreement with CMEC for operating the two gas turbines until the steam turbine is put into commercial operations, after which the two parties will renew the agreement to include the combined-cycle operations as well, an official of the CMEC said.

Work on the steam unit is almost complete but will take around six more months in achieving commercial operations due to complicated pre-commissioning procedures including chemical cleaning of the boiler, the official said. The plant has a total combined-cycle capacity of 1242 MWs, the report added.