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[Tarbela]

Tarbela hydel generation to touch 4,888 MW with 4th extension

The hydel generation capacity of Tarbela dam will further enhance to 4,888 MW with completion of 1410 MW 4th extension hydropower project.

Officials sources told APP Friday that Tarbela would be the largest water reservoir in term of hydel generation after completion of the extension project while Mangla has become the largest water storage reservoir.

They said that Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) had already awarded civil works contract worth Rs 26.053 billion with Chinese firm Sinohydro for civil works of the 1410MW Tarbela 4th extension hydropower project.

The sources said the World Bank had also agreed to provide $ 840 million loan for the project. They said the project would take three and half years for commissioning at estimated cost of $928 million. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has already inaugurated the 4th extension project.

The project will increase the hydropower generation capacity of Tarbela Hydel Power Station to 4,888 MW after installation of three units of 1410 MW. On completion, the project will add about 3.84 billion units low-cost electricity to the national grid per annum. Annual benefits of the project have been estimated at about Rs.30.7 billion. The sources said that the project would pay back its cost in just three years.

They said the project would also be instrumental in saving foreign exchange on import of almost one million ton of furnace oil annually, required for the equivalent generation of electricity from thermal sources. The project will also provide a cushion to undertake rehabilitation and up-gradation of the existing Tarbela Power House during the lean period.

The Tarbela 4th extension hydro power project is a part of least-cost power generation strategy of the federal government being implemented by WAPDA on priority. This strategy not only aims at adding a sizeable quantum of electricity to the national grid but also improving the share of low-cost hydel electricity in the overall system for reducing the power tariff.

[Magnus]

Pakistan embraces coal-fired power expansion

11/08/2014

By Diarmaid Williams 

 

International Digital Editor

 

Faced with persistent power outages and dwindling gas reserves, Pakistan is embracing coal-fired power expansion, with a dozen new plants set for construction.

 

Bloomberg reports that the government is encouraging investment totalling $15bn that looks likely to see 10,000 MW of coal-fired power added to the country’s power mix by 2020.

 

The country will use coal imported from South Africa and Indonesia before it develops and starts to use locally-mined lignite. It is motivated by a need to end power cuts, curb subsidies and comply with aid conditions set by the International Monetary Fund. Global investors and local companies including Engro Corp, Lucky Cement Ltd and K-Electric are set to invest heavily to improve the country’s energy security.

 

Pakistan and the IMF agreed in July 2013 on a loan that has since risen to $6.6bn to boost the nation’s depleted currency reserves and help stabilize its struggling economy. Fixing its energy sector was a key IMF condition for the loan.

 

Depleted gas reserves are the primary motivator in switching to coal – last year this issue indirectly led to outages that lasted as long as 18 hours per day, and at its peak the summer power deficit reached 6000 MW in the Punjab region.

 

The Asian Development Bank is lending $900m for a state-owned 600 MW coal-fired power generation unit in Pakistan. China’s Sinohydro Resources Ltd and Al Mirqab Capital SPC, a company controlled by Qatar’s royal family, are building a 1320 MW generator at Port Qasim in Karachi.

 

Meanwhile, Pakistan also plans to set up 10 power projects to produce a combined 6600 MW at Gaddani, just outside Karachi.

 

 “Our wish is that we make electricity from gas, but we don’t have it and there is no choice other than coal,” Asif Ali Abro, director of projects at the state-owned Private Power and Infrastructure Board, told Bloomberg.

 

The addition of coal power will change Pakistan’s energy mix to as much as 40 per cent from the fuel in five years from 0.1 per cent at present.

 

http://www.powerengi...-expansion.html

[Tarbela]

WASHINGTON: 

The United States on Wednesday pledged support for Pakistan’s massive $14 billion 4,500MW Diamer-Bhasha dam project as top officials and business leaders explored investment prospects, amid exponential energy needs of America’s ‘critical partner’ nation.

Both the US officials – including US Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Dr Rajiv Shah and US Special Representative Dan Feldman – and Pakistan’s Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar and Minister for Water & Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif, who is also defence minister, highlighted tremendous opportunities for American and international investors in the ‘transformational’ power generation and water storage project.

The officials spoke at a joint platform that brought together senior leaders and experts and business leaders at the US Chamber of Commerce at a meeting, co-hosted by the USAID and the US-Pakistan Business Council. Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Jalil Abbas Jilani and US Ambassador in Islamabad Richard Olson participated in the daylong conference, spread over several sessions.

Pakistan needs 10,000MW of power to meet its rapidly growing domestic, industrial and agrarian requirements. The materialisation of Diamer-Bhasha dam will be a giant step in that quest.

Besides producing 4,500MW of power, the dam will help with four million acre of water for irrigation, save millions from flash flooding, boost other hydro projects and contribute vitally to extending life of Tarbela Dam by 30 years.

The Obama administration officials assured the investors of effective results, citing results from US-financed energy up-gradating projects in Pakistan.

“We know that success can take hold,” Dr Shah said in reference to completion of small projects and addition to power generation capacity of large dams.

Daniel Feldman said the US and Pakistan have a wide-ranging strategic partnership and that Washington is in for a long-term economic and investment relationship with Pakistan, particularly in the energy field. “Investment in Diamer-Bhasha dam is the smartest choice for Pakistan,” Feldman remarked, reiterating the White House and Secretary John Kerry’s commitment to back economic and energy security of Pakistan.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government is committed to encouraging foreign investment in various sectors of the economy and is crystal clear that the country needs both the Dasu and Bhasha dams. “We have demonstrated our commitment – and acquired land from own indigenous resources,” he added.

He apprised the meeting of government’s robust economic agenda, saying Islamabad has stemmed the economic downslide it inherited and now exports, GDP rate, remittances, revenue collection and industrial growth, have all registered marked growth.

“Despite demonstrations in Islamabad, the rupee has been fairly staying at stable exchange rate, while inflation has also been checked,” he added.  Senator Dar said the government has paid off circular debt it had inherited from the previous administration.

Khawaja Asif said Washington’s support for the vital Diamer-Bhasha dam would cement the relationship between the two countries.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 9^th, 2014.