Karot : , Nov 20, 2018 – The Karot Hydropower Project is a pilot project of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor.It was completed on Saturday and has now started reservoir impoundment. The China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG), with an investment of approximately 1.74 billion US Dollars, has invested the Karot hydropower plant in Pakistan’s Eastern Punjab province.It is fourth of five planned cascade hydropower stations for the Jhelum River.
Wang Yi, Karot’s hydropower project leader, stated that the impoundment of the reservoir for the first CPEC Hydropower Investment Project is a significant milestone.
This will allow the wet testing and calibration of generator units.
The Chinese and Pakistani workers and engineers at the project, which was launched in April 2015, have overcome many challenges, including the Covid-19 pandemic.
Wang stated that a number of accomplishments have been achieved, such as closing the river and raising the first rotor.
Wang said that 95 percent of the project is complete and four stations are anticipated to produce electricity by the end of 2022.
Rashid Awan (a Pakistani civil engineer who is working on the hydropower project) said in a conversation that reservoir impoundment was a result of hard work and mutual support from the Chinese and Pakistani workers.
The hydropower station, which created over 4,000 local jobs during its peak construction phase, is now being commercially operated.
This will help to address the power shortage in Pakistan and provide cheap, clean energy as well as improve the country’s energy structure.
Once in operation, the 720-megawatt Karot Hydropower Project is estimated to generate 3.2 billion Kilowatt-hours annually of clean electricity.This will reduce 3.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.
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