Altaf Hamid Rao,
MIRPUR (AJK): The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) steadfastly moved ahead during the year 2018 to regain glory of its past, as it successfully completed and commissioned three long-delayed mega hydropower projects with cumulative generation capacity of 2487 MW, it was officially said.
With commissioning of the 108 MW-Golen Gol, the 1410 MW-Tarbela 4th Extension and the AJK-based 969 MW-Neelum Jhelum hydropower projects in 2018, the installed generation capacity of WAPDA hydroelectric power surged to 9389 MW from 6902 MW, registering an increase of 36 percent in just one year, WAPDA said in an official statement issued to the media here Sunday.
Prior to this, WAPDA could manage to take its hydel generation to 6902 MW in 59 years of its inception from the year 1958 to 2017, it added.
Elaborating the rapid achievements, the statement continued that as far as hydel generation in 2018 is concerned, WAPDA contributed 25.63 billion units of hydel electricity to the National Grid during the year despite the fact that water flows in 2018 remained historically low. The contribution of WAPDA hydel electricity to the system greatly helped the country in meeting electricity needs and lowering the electricity tariff for the consumers.
It is worth mentioning that hydropower is the cheapest, cleanest and environment -friendly source of electricity. According to the data of Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) regarding per unit cost of electricity generated from various sources during fiscal year 2017-18, it is 2.22 for WAPDA hydel, which is far less than per unit cost of electricity generated from all other sources. In comparison to hydel electricity, it is Rs. 8.91 per unit for gas, Rs. 16.16 for residual furnace oil (RFO), Rs. 16.45 for high speed diesel (HSD), Rs. 10.89 for coal, Rs. 8.78 for nuclear, Rs. 16.35 for wind, Rs. 8.60 for bagasse, Rs. 16.83 for solar, Rs. 11.30 for re-gasified natural gas (RLNG), and Rs. 10.67 per unit for electricity imported from Iran.
Apart from its achievements in hydropower sector, WAPDA also succeeded in achieving major targets to construct mega water reservoirs in the country. Resultantly, construction of Mohmand Dam is scheduled to commence in January 2019. It will be the first mega Dam to be undertaken in the last five decades after construction of Tarbela Dam in 1970s. In addition, construction work on Diamer Basha Dam Project is also likely to start in mid 2019. Both Mohmand and Diamer Basha dams will store 9.3 MAF of water and generate 5300 MW of low–cost hydel electricity.
