LAHORE: The National Trans­mis­sion and Despatch Company (NTDC) has said that it will complete the laying of 500kV High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission line from Torkham border to Nowshera by December 2022, as well as construction of a convertor station.

The line is meant to receive 1,000 megawatts from Kyrgyzstan in direct current (DC), convert it at the convertor station in Nowshera (Azakhel Bala) and add it to the national grid to meet the summer demand of Pakistan under the Central Asia-South Asia power project — commonly known as CASA-1000.

HVDC will receive 1,000MW from Kyrgyzstan

“We are hopeful that we will complete our portion of the HVDC line by November 2022, a month before our deadline. Similarly, we are also making efforts to complete the convertor station by December 2023 instead of June 2024,” a senior official told Dawn after the NTDC management established a camp office at Azakhel Bala to fast-track the work.

The 113-kilometre-long line falling in Pakistan and convertor station are among the major parts of the 1,270km HVDC transmission line originating from Kyrgyzstan and ending in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa via Tajikistan and Afghanistan (Torkham border) to transport 1,300MW hydel power in DC mode, drop 300MW for Afghanistan on the way, transport the remaining 1,000MW to Pakistan, convert it into AC mode and add to the national grid.

The boundary wall of the convertor had been completed in January while work on it was launched in April by the engineering, procurement and construction contractor. Similarly, work on laying the line had been initiated in November.

“In order to ensure early completion of the project, we thought of stationing here in Nowshera,” NTDC Managing Director Muhammad Ayub said while speaking to officers after inaugurating the camp office. “Bring a part of the cross-border power project (CASA-1000) should be a matter of pride as it is being executed by Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

He said 1,000MW clean hydel power will help maintain the required voltage level and meet the country’s increasing load demand.

Work on the $1.6 billion CASA-1000 project was launched about five years ago to export Kyrgyzstan and Tajikis­tan’s surplus hydel power to Afgha­nistan and Pakistan in summer (high-demand months from May to September).

The cost of Pakistan’s component is $205 million that is being funded by the Islamic Development Bank and the World Bank.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2021