Azad Pattan HPP is one of five the projects within the River Jhelum cascade and the reservoir capacity and generation potential of each project is influenced by the water levels determined by the Cascade Study commissioned by the PPIB. The River Jhelum can be subjected to extreme flood events due to intense monsoon rainfall within the catchment area and the crest of the RCC dam substantially comprises spillway to discharge the possible maximum flood.
Current Status
- • Feasibility study carried out by URS Scott Wilson (USA/UK) stands approved by the panel of experts.
- • The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) have determined feasibility Stage tariff for the Project.
- • Azad Jammu & Kashmir Council vide PPIB/Ministry of Energy have issued Letter of Support (LOS) on 30th June 2016.
- • The Grid Interconnection Study was approved by NTDCL. The electricity from the Project will be evacuated through 500kV transmission line from Kohala HPP to Maira Station.
- • The EPC Bids were evaluated by an independent EPC Tendering Consultant. Based on the evaluations, EPC Contract was awarded and executed in June 2017.
- • The EPC stage tariff petition was filed by the Company to CPPA-G on 23 June 2017 under NEPRA Import of Power Regulation 2017. CPPA-G forwarded the tariff proposal to NEPRA on 10th October 2017 for which the Public Hearing was held on 11th January 2018 at NEPRA, Islamabad.
- • The bidding process for Owner Engineer is complete and the negotiations for contract execution with the most favorable bidder are under process by the Company.
- • The Company engaged a renowned consultant Hagler Bailly Pakistan to carry out the revision of EIA and re-validate the relevant approvals from concerned environmental authorities. The revised ESIA’s have been submitted to the relevant Environmental Authorities in December 2017 and the Environmental approvals were obtained in March 2018.
- • Detailed study has been undertaken on international best practices/ Chinese standards to ascertain the optimal land scope line up to which the land will be procured and would be prudent in the best interest of the Project and adjoining communities for minimum resettlements and safe operations of the Project. The land demarcation process is already completed by the Company while the land acquisition process is substantially complete including the identification /inventory of land records and its verification by local land authorities. The statutory notifications are under process to move ahead in the acquisition process.
- • Indicative term sheets have been received from prospective lenders.
- • First drafts of the concession documents comprising of Government of Pakistan Implementation Agreement, Azad Jammu and Kashmir Implementation Agreement, Power Purchase Agreement, GoPunjab and AJ&K Water Use Agreements are submitted to the relevant authorities for negotiations and finalization.
- • The Company has conducted several negotiation meetings and have finalized the all the concession documents except Power Purchase Agreement, which is still under finalization.
The main project components comprise:
- • RCC gravity dam;
- • High capacity gated spillway incorporated into the dam crest;
- • Low level outlets located within a central non-overflow section of the dam;
- • Power generation facilities – underground powerhouse with associated intake structure, headrace tunnels, penstock and tailrace outfall;
- • Surface buildings and infrastructure;
- • River diversion facilities – two tunnels located on the right bank.
Hydrology & Power Generation
The Jhelum River is the major eastern tributary of the Indus River Basin and has a catchment area of about 6,000 square kilometers of alluvial lands in the Kashmir Valley and glaciers located in the north of the catchment.
A robust and reliable hydrological record spanning close to a century and provides a sound and reliable basis for estimation of annual hydrology. Live storage of 14.3 million cubic meter allows four (4) hour daily peaking thus adding value to the generation.
The mean monthly flows for the proposed Azad Pattan Site are shown below:
The energy estimation based on the established hydrology provides a high degree of assurance to the power purchaser as basis for the capacity payment.
Optimized plant capacity of 700.7 MW; based on 4 Francis turbine-generating units of 175.17MW each. The plant will generate some 3258GWh electricity per annum at a plant factor of some 53.6% based on established hydrology in a run-of-river mode.
Three Chinese hydel projects get ECC approval after a one year wait
ISLAMABAD: In fast moving developments, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Thursday approved important revisions to the terms on which three hydropower projects, worth more than $5 billion in total, are being executed by Chinese companies.
The Cabinet Committee on Energy, led by Planning Minister Asad Umar approved on June 20 the signing of implementation agreements on two of these three projects — Kohala and Azad Pattan — with an estimated cost of $3.758bn.
Within days, yet another summary was moved by the Power Division titled “Revised Standard Security Package Documents” for these three projects — 1,124MW Kohala Hydropower Project, 700MW Azad Pattan Hydropower Project and 640MW Mahl Hydropower project — all based on Jhelum river, Azad Kashmir. The cumulative generation capacity of three projects is estimated at 2,464MW.
In the case of the Kohala project, the documents were signed in PM’s presence shortly after the ECC approval on Thursday.
All three projects are being developed on built, own, operate and transfer basis by the Private Power & Infrastructure Board (PPIB). The 1,124MW Kohala and 700MW Azad Pattan projects are included in and processed under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Energy Project Cooperation agreement signed on Nov 8, 2014 by the two countries.
The Kohala project is to be located on River Jhelum in Azad Jammu & Kashmir being developed by the Kohala Hydropower Company Private Limited with China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG), International Finance Corporation of the World Bank and Silk Road Fund. The project’s average 30-year tariff is estimated at 7.85 cents per unit with total project cost of $2.4bn.
Likewise, the Azad Pattan project is also to be located on Jhelum river on the dual boundary of AJK and Punjab being developed by Azad Pattan Power Pvt Limited with China Gezhouba Group Company Limited as sponsor. The 30-year tariff for this project is estimated at 7.07 cents per unit, with project cost of $1.35bn.
The third project — Mahl Hydropower – is also to be located on river Jhelum on combined boundary of AJK, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The project is being developed by Mahl Power Company Ltd with CTG and Trans Tech Pakistan.
These projects are now also covered under the 2002 Power Policy incentives, concessions and protections for which revised standard security package documents are being signed. These documents include Pakistan government’s implementation agreements, GOP guarantees, power purchase agreements, water use agreement which are signed by government of AJK/Punjab/KP, National Transmission & Despatch Company, Central Power Purchasing Agency, PPIB etc.
Three Chinese hydel projects get ECC approval after a one year wait
These projects are also covered under the 2002 Power Policy incentives, concessions and protections.
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