Mangla power house refurbishment: Wapda approaches Power Division for tunnel closure

ISLAMABAD: Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has approached Power Division for closure of Tunne1 (unit and 2) of Mangla power house for 18 months for refurbishment with the objective of enhancing capacity of power house by 310MW.

In a letter to Secretary Ministry of Water Resources, Member (Power) Wapda noted it has undertaken the rehabilitation works of the generating Units of Mangla Hydel Power Station in order to enhance the capacity from 1,000MW to 1,310MW with the aim to provide reliable/ consistent power to the National Grid for another 30 to 35 years’ life cycle by utilising the additional head and water storage in post Mangla Dam Raising Scenario.

The project was approved by Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) on December 31, 2023.

Contract Package III C awarded by Wapda

According to Wapda, contract for six Units (1-6) was awarded to M/s GE Hydro France on August 29, 2016 and the first two Units (5&6) were handed over to the Contractor in November 2017. In the first phase units 5&6 were commissioned on February 28, 2022 and were available for commercial operation from April1, 2022.

The refurbishment work on units 3&4 is in progress and expected date of completion for Unit# 3 & 4 was July 2, 2024 and September 11, 2024, respectively.

According to the contract agreement, refurbishment of Unit 1&2 will be carried out in the next phase.

Furthermore, Wapda in a letter of September 13, 2023 requested Secretary Water Resources to approach Ministry of Energy (Power Division) for allowing the shutdown of 18 months on Tunnel No. 1 (Unit 1&2) to carry out refurbishment starting from 1st week March 2024.

According to M/s GE updated Overall Time Schedule (OTS) of May 31, 2024, the outage date for Unit No. 1&2 has been revised as October 12, 2024.

Wapda maintains that the previously requested date elapsed, and any approval from the Ministry of Energy (Power Division) and National Power Control Centre (NPCC) has not been received yet.

Foregoing in view, Wapda requested Secretary Ministry of Water Resources to take up the matter with the Power Division for the revised schedule of Tunnel number 01 shutdown (Unit 1 &2) of availing for 18 months, so that the office could smoothly proceed for necessary preparations and to avoid any potential delays in the refurbishment activities.

Wapda is implementing Mangla Refurbishment Project with an approved PC-I cost of Rs.52.224 billion. The Project is being carried out in various phases, wherein the generating units are to be refurbished by closing down one tunnel (two generating units) at a time.

The refurbishment works have been divided into 11 different packages. Prior to signing of Package-XI, as many as nine other packages have already been awarded, while works on four packages have been completed. Refurbishment of the first two units was completed in 2022, while refurbishment of all 10 generating units is likely to be accomplished by year 2026-27.

Mangla Refurbishment Project, on its completion, will deliver additional power with average 1610 million units of additional energy per annum to the National Grid. USIAD has also extended an amount of $98 million for this purpose.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024