Extensive hydropower plans bode well for future

LAHORE: The present regime is exploring all available resources for power generation, including the existing hydropower projects, and plans to add 4,000 megawatts of hydropower by refurbishing Mangla and installing two generators in the two unused Tarbela tunnels.

The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) would add 1,500MW by 2018, another 1,500MW by 2020, and 110MW by 2024.

In addition 969MW would be added in the system in 2017 through the Neelum-Jhelum hydro-electric project. The Dasu project in its first phase would also add 2,500MW by 2020. A total of 6,500MW of low cost hydropower would be added in the system by 2020, out of which only 2,500 would be available during the tenure of this government. This also means that the hydro electric power generation capacity of Pakistan would almost double by 2020 to over 13,000MW.

Although bulk of the additional 3,030MW would come from Tarbela, it is the Mangla refurbishment project that is novel in the sense that an additional 310MW power would be added in its system. Currently 10 generating units of 100MW each have a capacity to produce 1,000MW of electricity. All these machines have outlived their useful life as most of them have been in operation for 34-48 years. Though the machines have been kept in good condition, their maintenance and repair cost is very high as the original manufacturers have since long stopped producing their spare parts.

These machines had to be replaced, but the hitch was to look for same sized machines that could fit in the space where the current machines were installed. Each of the five tunnels bifurcated in Y-shape have a 100MW generator installed at the end. Instead of replacing the entire machines, Wapda engineers and international consultants recommended refurbishing some parts to make technical improvements to enhance power generation capacity.

These parts were being custom made by a company that has been awarded tender after due process. The life of the refurbished machine would enhance by 35 years –the same as was at the time of their original installation.

This job has to be done in phases as the country, direly in need of power, cannot stop all the generators of Mangla at the same time. In the first phase unit number one and two would be refurbished (because they are installed in the same tunnel). This will deplete the power generation capacity at Mangla by 200MW for three months.

After three months capacities in each generator would increase by 35MW. The refurbishment of unit one and two would be completed in July 2017 and that of units three-four, and five-six by 2020. The next four would be installed by 2024.

The USAID provided a grant of $150 million for this project and the rest has been arranged by the government.

Tarbela would add 1,410MW by July of 2017 by utilising its fourth tunnel.

The work on the project is in full swing. The funds for this project have been provided by the World Bank. When Pakistan was facing acute power shortages many international agencies in fact expressed surprise as to why Pakistan has neglected this hung fruit. The prime minister of Pakistan had also ordered to utilise the fifth tunnel of Tarbela dam,which like tunnel four could produce another 1,410MW of power through three generators of 470MW each. The feasibility report of the project has been completed and PC1 has been approved by the Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet.

The project is likely to be commissioned sometime in 2020. Tarbela currently is producing 3,478MW electricity at its peak. With the addition of 1,410MW in July 2017, its generation capacity would increase to 4,888MW; and by 2020 it would reach 6,298MW.

Wapda has raised a loan for the amount needed for the final completion of the Neelum-Jhelum and has successfully arranged Rs144 billion through Sukuk for the Dasu project.