LAHORE: The Water and Power Development Aut­hority (Wapda) says it recorded 8,854 megawatts of hydel power generation on Sunday night — the highest peak-hour hydel generation of the year so far, and 1,277MW more than the level achieved on the same day last year.

The generation included 4,926MW by the Tarbela hydel power station, which is 38MW more than the ins­talled capacity of 4,888MW.

“Last year (Sept 12 night), our maximum hydel generation was 7,577MW that we surpassed on Sept 12 night of 2021 by generating 8,854MW,” Wap­da Chair­man retired Lt Gen Muzammil Hussain told Dawn.

“Last year’s maximum hydel generation that we contributed to the national grid was 8,949MW. We may surpass this figure subject to the availability of water, outflows, operation of turbines/machines like last year,” he added.

According to a spokesperson, the increased share of hydel power in the national grid is mainly due to maximum power generation from Tarbela and Tarbela 4th extension hydel power stations. The hydel generation data during peak hours showed that Tarbela cumulatively generated 4,926MW, Mangla contributed 920MW, Ghazi Barotha 1,450MW and Neelum Jhelum 850MW, while other hydel power stations cumulatively shared 708MW to the national grid.

At present, Wapda owns and operates 22 hydel power stations, including Neelum Jhelum, with a combined installed generation capacity of 9,406MW. These power stations provide about 37 billion units of electricity annually on an average to the national grid.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2021