LAHORE: Despite low flows and less availability of water in the country, the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) contributed 31.425 billion units of low-cost hydel electricity to the national grid during fiscal year 2018-19, said Wapda in a statement.
“This quantum of electricity is 4.358 billion units more than the hydel generation in fiscal year 2017-18,” it said.
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This additional contribution of hydel electricity not only helped resolve the issue of load-shedding in the country but also stabilised the power tariff, Wapda said.
The increased hydel contribution became possible after Wapda completed three long-delayed mega hydropower projects during fiscal year 2018-19 with cumulative generation capacity of 2,487 megawatts.
With commissioning of the 108MW Golen Gol, 1,410MW Tarbela 4th Extension and 969MW Neelum Jhelum hydropower projects, the installed generation capacity of Wapda’s hydroelectric power plants surged to 9,389MW from 6,902MW, an increase of 36%.
Prior to this, Wapda said, it could manage to take its hydel generation to 6,902MW in 59 years since its inception from the year 1958 to 2017.
Besides the addition of three new hydel power stations, effective operation and consistent maintenance of the already existing hydel power stations were the main contributing factors behind the increase in hydel generation. At present, Wapda owns 22 hydel power stations, including the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project.
