By Muhammad Luqman
The first unit of the long–awaited Tarbela 4th Extension Hydropower Project will be commissioned in February next while the second unit of the project will come on line by end- April and the third unit by end May to help bring positive change in the energy mix in Pakistan.
Presently, around 70 percent of South Asian country’s total generation of over 20,000 megawatts comes from the furnace oil-fired power plants, much expensive as compared to hydel power.
“The Project will help mitigate power shortages in the country with low-cost hydel electricity,” Chairman Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), Lt. General (rtd) Muzammil Hussain during visit to the project .
The 1410 MW-Tarbela 4th Extension is a component of least-cost energy generation plan being implemented by WAPDA on priority to increase the ratio of hydel electricity in the system to stabilize electricity tariff for the consumers.
Under Tarbela 4th Extension Hydropower Project, three electric power generating units – each of them having capacity of 470 MW – are being installed at tunnel 4 of Tarbela Dam.
With completion of the project, generation capacity of the existing Tarbela Hydel Power Station will increase to 4888 MW from the existing 3478 MW. Tarbela 4th Extension Hydropower Project will provide 3840 Giga Watt hours (3.84 billion units of electricity) to the National Grid annually.
