RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: State-of-the-art 969 MW-Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project achieved another milestone as its contribution to the national grid crossed 8 billion mark, said Wapda sources.

In terms of revenue, they said, Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project has yielded more than Rs 80 billion of hydel electricity into the National Grid with the efficient operation of the project by Neelum Jhelum and Wapda engineers and staff under tiring conditions.

It is worth mentioning here that Neelum Jhelum generated up to 1040 MW on April 9, 2019, beyond the installed capacity of 969 MW, which reflects the efficiency of its electro-mechanical equipment, the turbines in particular. Nowadays, the project has been running on full load i.e. 969 MW because the required quantum of water is available due to the high-flow season.

The project achieved this landmark despite the fact that the shelling by India from across the LoC during July and Oct 2019 interrupted the working at the project, which forced the evacuation of the Chinese workers from the project site and continue to be afflicted by Covid-19 pandemic.

Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project, one of the engineering marvels, has been constructed in a very difficult mountainous terrain and being 90 percent of the project underground. The project is comprised of a weir (dam), an underground waterway system of 52-kilometer long tunnels, an underground powerhouse, and a switchyard. The project, having four generating units of 242.25 MW capacity each, started electricity generation with commissioning of its first unit in April 2018. The project attained its maximum installed generation of 969 MW on August 14, 2018, with the commissioning of its all four units.