Pakistan - Tarbela hydel power station achieves 10-billion units mark and yields 75 billion rupees in revenue

The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) has announced that the Tarbela 4th Extension Hydel Power Station crossed the 10-billion units generation mark this week.

Thecontribution of Tarbela 4th Extension Hydel Power Station yielded a revenue of about 75 billion rupees to WAPDA. Simultaneously, it also accrued saving worth Rs.100 billion to the national exchequer, which would otherwise have been used to generate same amount of electricity through thermal resources.

The new generation level marks yet another significant development towards contribution of low-cost hydel electricity to the National Grid.

The Tarbela 4th Extension Hydel Power Station has been instrumental in meeting electricity needs of Pakistan, triggering socio-economic development in the country. The project has been constructed on Tunnel No. 4 of Tarbela Dam, which has three generating units, each of them having capacity of 470 MW. With the completion of Tarbela 4th Extension Hydropower Project, the installed capacity of Tarbela Hydel Power Station has increased from 3478 MW to 4888 MW.

has Described by the World Bank as the flagship project of WAPDA,  the Tarbela 4th Extension project went into operation with commissioning of its first unit in February 2018, followed by completion of its second and third units in a phased manner by mid 2018.

Annual benefits of the project have been estimated at Rs. 30 billion.