LAHORE: The hydel power stations owned and operated by the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) delivered 4,308 million units of low-cost hydel electricity to the National Grid in August 2015 compared to 4,232 million units generated during the corresponding period last year.

“This generation registered an increase of 76 million units at a time when the country is in dire need of electricity. This increased generation has been achieved due to improved hydrological condition, and efficient operation and maintenance of hydel power stations,” a Wapda spokesman claimed in a statement on Tuesday.

The contribution of hydel generation to the national grid is expected to increase in the days to come because of high water head available in Tarbela and Mangla reservoirs and enhanced water outflows from the dams on Irsa’s indent in accordance with the provinces’ water requirements for irrigation.

According to the generation data of August 2015, maximum units of hydel electricity i.e. 146.403 million were delivered to the national grid on Aug 10, while minimum 129.527 million units were contributed on Aug 18. Wapda delivers about 32 billion units to the national grid every year on the average.

Hydel is the cheapest, cleanest and environment-friendly source of electricity generation, which plays a pivotal role in stabilising the power tariff in the country. According to the data of per unit generation cost during July 2014-April 2015, it is Rs2.76 for hydel in comparison to Rs7.74 for gas, Rs16.25 for residual furnace oil (RFO), Rs18.81 for high speed diesel (HSD), Rs12.56 for coal, Rs5.59 for nuclear, Rs12.83 for wind and Rs10.89 for bagasse.

The basket price of electricity in the system stands at Rs9.37 per unit. “Keeping in view this, the hydel power generation capacity of Wapda stands at about 6,902 MW -- about one third of the total installed capacity in the country,” the spokesman said.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2015

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