LAHORE: The country’s reservoirs have 2.75 million acre feet (MAF) of water at the end of the third quarter (January-March) of current fiscal year 2014-15, which is more than the last year’s 1.986 MAF and even in the average of the last ten years, which was 0.693 MAF.
This was revealed in the quarterly assessment report presented to the Pakistan WAPDA. The report pertains to availability of water in Mangla, Tarbela and Chashma reservoirs and generation of hydel electricity by the WAPDA hydel power stations during the corresponding period.
The report said that the increased water availability will boost agriculture and contribute to economic growth. It was noted in the meeting that increased water availability during the third quarter is due to more rainfall and additional water stored by raised Mangla Dam.
The report, which was discussed in the WAPDA meeting, said that as many as 4.012 billion units of low-cost hydel electricity were delivered to the national grid by the WAPDA hydel power stations during the third quarter of the fiscal year 2014-15 against 4.41 billion units generated during the same period of last year.
Despite more availability of water in the reservoirs, the hydel power stations generated slightly less electricity because of the less water indents placed by the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) due to more than average rains in February and March 2015 in the country thereby reducing water requirements from the dams for irrigation. However, the additional water available in reservoirs will add to electricity generation during the peak summer in the last quarter of the fiscal year, the meeting observed.
The meeting was apprised that the hydel power generation capacity of WAPDA stands at about 7000 megawatt (MW) – about one third of the total installed capacity in the country. The meeting expressed the satisfaction that despite some of hydel power stations being as old as 50 years, the generation capacity of WAPDA has stayed intact due to proper maintenance and efficient operation of these stations.
The meeting noted that WAPDA contributes more than 30 billion units of low-cost electricity to the national grid per annum. The role being played by hydel electricity in keeping the power tariff at present level can be measured from the fact that according to data of January 2015, per unit generation cost of hydel electricity is merely Rs. 2.62 on an average as compared to Rs.7.43 for gas, Rs.12.91 for coal, Rs.12.98 for baggase, Rs.17.58 for furnace oil, Rs.23.43 for diesel (HSD), Rs. 5.98 for nuclear and Rs.11.62 for wind. As per data the basket price of electricity in the system stands at Rs.10.03 per unit.
