CPEC: Karot Hydropower Project hoists fourth and final rotor at the powerhouse
Islamabad: China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)’s Karot Hydropower Project it successfully hoisted its fourth and final rotor at the powerhouse – achieving a major milestone towards the Commercial Operation Date (COD), it was announced here.
The Karot Hydropower project, located at a distance of about 76 Km from Islamabad have total Installed capacity of Karot HPP is 720 MW with an annual electricity generation of 3,206 Gwh. The project is equipped with four state of art Francis turbines and will fulfill the needs of five million consumers throughout Pakistan, added the official announcement.
The rotor is an important component used for the excitation function, which is essential to power generation. This step is another major milestone toward the COD of first CPEC Hydro Power Project which is expected to be achieved in June 2022.
Each unit can produce 180MW of Power and the total hydropower potential of Karot HPP is 720MW which is expected to achieve commercial operation by June 2022.
Since the groundbreaking of the project in April, 2016, the Chinese and Pakistani engineers and workers at the project have jointly overcome different challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, a series of achievements have been made such as the river closure, reservoir impoundment, completion of transmission line, lifting of the first, second and third rotor.
The Karot Hydropower Project is a concrete-core rockfill gravity large dam. The project is sponsored by Chinese state-owned company China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG).
It is the first investment project of the Silk Road Fund, and is part of the much larger CPEC.
The Karot Hydropower Project is planned on Jhelum River near Karot village, some 1.7 kilometers upstream of Karot Bridge and 74 km upstream of Mangla Dam.
The project site is accessible through the Islamabad-Kahuta-Kotli road, approximately 29 kilometers from Kahuta, and 65 kilometers from Islamabad.
The major project features include construction of concrete gravity 95.5 meters high dam with a crest length of 320 meters near the village of Gohra.
The dam’s reservoir will be approximately 164.5 million cubic meters in volume, with a length of 27 kilometers.
The power intake structure will be constructed on right bank of the river immediately upstream of Dam site and will divert the water into headrace tunnels entering into Cavern Powerhouse.
The water will be discharged back to River Jhelum through tail-race channel located at right bank of the River Jhelum immediately downstream of Karot village. The dam will generate mean annual energy 3,436 GWh, and will connect to Pakistan’s national electricity grid.
The Karot project is being developed by Karot Power Company comprising Three Gorges South Asia Investment Limited, a subsidiary of China Three Gorges Corporation, China-CTGC and Associated Technologies of Pakistan.
