LAHORE - The 1,450 megawatt Ghazi Barotha Hydel Power Station has so far provided 91.1 billion units of low-cost hydel electricity to the national grid since commissioning of its first generating unit in August 2003, which is 8.6 billion units over and above the generation (82.5 billion units) that was envisaged in PC-I of the project for the said period.
Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) Chairman Lt Gen (R) Muzammil Hussain noted this during his visit to Ghazi Barotha Hydropower Project. Speaking on the occasion, the Wapda chairman said that the hydel power stations owned and operated by Wapda have been significantly contributing towards prosperity of the country since long. These hydel power stations have not only helped meeting electricity requirements of the country but also stabilising electricity tariff for the consumers, he added.
Terming Ghazi Barotha Hydropower Project an engineering marvel, the Wapda chairman appreciated the management for effective and efficient operation and maintenance of the project. Earlier, the chairman had a detailed round of the Power Channel and Hydel Power Station at Barotha during his visit to the project.
The Ghazi Barotha Hydropower Project management briefed the Wapda chairman that the project was completed in 2004 with a cost of Rs96 billion. It has three major components; a Barrage at Ghazi about 7 kilometers downstream of Tarbela Dam; a 52 kilometers long Power Channel with design water flow of 1600 cubic meter per second (Cumecs) which holds the record of the biggest lined channel in the world; and a Power
House comprising five generating units, each of them having a generation capacity of 290MW. Ghazi Barotha Hydel Power Station has been generating 7.1 billion units of electricity per annum on the average against the PC-I rated generation of 6.6 billion in a year.