LAHORE: Two Mangla Hydel Power Station units refurbished under the financial assistance of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) were successfully commissioned on Monday. With refurbishment, the installed generation capacity of each unit has increased to 135MW from 100MW - with a cumulative increase of 70MW from 200 to 270MW.

According to the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), USAID’s Mission Director Julie A. Koenen accompanied by her team witnessed the commissioning of the two units during her visit to the Mangla Power Station. She also unveiled a plaque to mark the commissioning of the refurbished units No 5 and 6. Wapda Member (Power) Jamil Akhtar was also present.

“Today, the Mangla Dam rehabilitation work builds upon the foundational partnership of the original construction. USAID is proud of our enduring efforts with Wapda to extend Mangla Dam’s useful service as a reliable source of clean energy and irrigation water,” said Ms Julie Koenen while speaking at the event. “When Mangla Dam was built, it was one of the largest earth-filled dams in the world. Not only it is an impressive achievement in engineering, but also an excellent example of long-lasting US-Pakistan friendship and economic cooperation”

Earlier, the Wapda member thanked USAID for their continued support for the power sector in Pakistan and specifically in the implementing Mangla Refurbishment Project. Elaborating the two-pronged strategy for optimal utilization of hydropower resources, he said that Wapda has not only initiated new hydropower projects, but has also been rehabilitating and upgrading its existing hydel power stations, including Mangla to maximize the ratio of environment-friendly and low-cost hydel electricity in the National Grid.

In view of the aging factor of the generating equipment and the availability of additional water due to the raised Mangla Dam, Wapda is implementing Mangla Refurbishment Project with an approved PC-I cost of Rs52.224 billion. USAID is providing $150 million as a grant, while the balance is being arranged by Wapda through loans and from its own resources for the purpose.

The project will enhance the generation capacity of the existing power station from 1,000MW to 1,310 MW, thus registering an increase of 310 MW. The average annual generation of Mangla will also increase from 5 billion units to 6.5 billion units. The refurbishment works have been divided into 11 different packages, which are being implemented in various phases, by closing down one tunnel (two generating units) at a time.

The installation of the first four generating units - one to four at the Mangla Hydel Power Station - having a generation capacity of 100 MW each, was completed in 1967. Unit No five and six were installed in 1974, while Unit No seven and 8 eight 1981. Mangla Hydel Power Station attained its maximum generation capacity of 1,000MW in 1994 with the addition of Unit No nine and 10.

Published in Dawn,May 24th, 2022