There are more than 4,000 waterfalls in the country where 5- to 10-megawatts power generating units can be installed, President of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Mian Abrar Ahmed said on Thursday. Pakistan, he said, was facing serious energy crisis and these units could make a big difference in efforts overcome power shortages.
Assuring that the cost of establishing these units was low, he said that Pakistan's energy mix should include 40 per cent of its electricity from nuclear, 40 per cent from hydroelectric and it should endeavour to generate the rest from alternative resources like furnace oil, wind and solar. Criticising the government, he said that it had not introduced any comprehensive energy security plan for steering the country out of the prevailing power crisis.
Welcoming Supreme Court's decision on rental power, he said that these ship-mounted units were providing very costly energy because of the government's illogical policies. FPCCI's Vice-President Shakil Dhingra expressed satisfaction on the Supreme Court's decision and said that these power generating units were producing just 150MW of electricity. Millions of dollars, he said, were being spent on these units, which could have been better utilised for enhancing capacity of existing power generating units.
Electrical engineer, Fareed Hasan said water flowing in the rivers had kinetic energy, which could be used to drive turbines and produce electricity - the power generated thus is called hydel energy. He said in run-of-river projects, water is diverted through tunnels and once it gains head, it is allowed to fall and pass through turbines and back to river. The water in these projects is flowing continuously and not being stored. Power produced by the turbines depends on the quantity of water flowing/minute and the head of water available.
Mostly river flows are generated by melting of glaciers on high mountains. Once the water starts flowing in valleys, it changes its head very rapidly. He said in case of dams, the water flow is restricted, making huge storage reservoirs and the head of water is increased. The water then is allowed to flow by means of gates and passes through turbines, the head of reservoir level is maintained to provide uniform power, and the water stored in peak season additionally is used for irrigation purposes in dry seasons.
He said that before initiating any serious effort to start work, feasibility studies should be conducted and based on following field work. Detailed mapping of the area, weather data containing, temperature, pressure, rain and humidity, water sampling and testing, environmental study, social impact wild life and fish study, identification of stake holders of the area, coring and getting samples of the soil at 50-200 meters depth, laboratory testing of the cores samples, study to evaluate earth quake dangers. He said geographical situation is of paramount importance in choosing a suitable site for the hydroelectric project and it is a very time and money consuming study. Once a site is located, another detailed feasibility study is required.