LAHORE, April 26: Excessive water releases from dams and some improvement in weather on Thursday helped Wapda narrow gap between demand and supply, leaving it with a deficit of 500MW.

According to Wapda officials, the demand on Thursday remained 13,300MW, thanks mainly to ‘tolerable’ weather conditions in the country. And power generation had also gone up to just under 12,000MW and the hydel generation up to 5,000MW, with water releases from both dams going up substantially.

They said Tarbela dam contributed around 2,400MW while Mangla dam generated 1,150mw against installed capacity of 1,000mw due to high water providing extra pressure. The Ghazi Brotha Hydel Project (GBHP) also hit generation capacity of 1,450MW due to extra water releases from Tarbela, which went up to 55,000 cusecs.

The Independent Power Producers (IPPs) continued generating 4,900MW and the Thermal generation remained 2,900MW. In all, the authority was able to generate 12,800MW against a demand of 13,300MW.

“Power demand fluctuates almost on an hourly basis,” said an official of the power wing. Weather would now be crucial factor in the next few days. If it remained favourable, the authority might be able to contain loadshedding correspondingly. Otherwise, it would be very hard summer for the people, he warned. —Staff Reporter