Proc.

of the 4rth International Conference on Power Generation Systems and Renewable Energy Technologies (PGSRET)

10-12 September 2018, Islamabad, Pakistan

Energy Scenario and Potential of Hydroelectric

Power in Pakistan
Waqar Uddin Sadam Hussain Kamran Zeb
School of Electrical and Comp Eng. School of Electrical and Comp Eng. School of Electrical and Comp Eng.
Pusan National University Pusan National University Pusan National University
Busan, South Korea Busan, South Korea Busan, South Korea
waqudn@pusan.ac.kr sadamengr15@gmail.com Kamran.zeb@pusan.ac.kr

Musaib Aleem Dildar Z. Ullah Ihsan Ullah Khalil

Department of Electrical Engineering Department of Electrical Engineering Department of Electrical Engineering
Abasyn University UMT Lahore Abasyn University
Peshawar, Pakistan Sialkot Campus, Pakistan Peshawar, Pakistan
qari.musaib@abasyn.edu.pk zahid.ullah@skt.umt.edu.pk iukhalil211@gmail.com

R. Ullah A. Haider Muhammad Adil

Department of Electrical Engineering Department of Electrical Engineering Dept. of Electrical Engineering
GIKI of Engineering and Technology UMT Lahore Air University
Swabi, Pakistan Sialkot Campus, Pakistan Islamabad, Pakistan
rahmat056@yahoo.com aun.haider@skt.umt.edu.pk adil.khan@mail.au.edu.pk

H. J. Kim
School of Electrical and Comp Eng.
Pusan National University
Busan, South Korea
heeje@pusan.ac.kr

Abstract—Currently, the electrical energy crisis is one of the
major issues in Pakistan. The inhabitants are facing 10-12 hours
of load shedding in urban area and 14-20 hours in rural area on
daily basis. The demand for electric power is much higher than its
generation. This paper is focused on the available potential of
hydropower in Pakistan. Pakistan has the potential of 60GW of
hydroelectric power in its different regions. We have been able to
produce only 7407 MW of electric power from hydro resources so
far. The growth of large hydropower sector is standing still.
Although the small hydropower plant is developing rapidly in the
country. About 2070 MW of electrical power will be generated
from the small power plant at the end of 2021. However, the
hurdles in the development of new hydro plants i.e. Strategy and
monitoring, Funds, policies, unavailability of hydro data and
social barriers are slowing the development of hydropower sector.
The hydropower needs full attention due to its low contribution to
global warming due to its environmentally friendly nature.
Index Terms— Energy Crisis, Hydroelectric Generation, Green
House Gases
I. INTRODUCTION
Energy is an essential factor in the development and progress
of a country. Currently, Pakistan is facing various difficulties
in the development of the energy sector. In 2006, Pakistan
energy requirement was 57.9 million Tons of Oil Equivalent
(TOEs) in 2006 [1]. It showed a consistent growth rate of 11-
13% yearly. In 2020, The energy requirement will reach 179
million TOEs with this growth rate.
People are facing 10-12 hours of load shedding in urban area and 14-
20 hours in rural area on daily basis [2]. The reason of this load-
shedding is low power generation. The generation is lagging
the demand by 8500MW [3]. Every year 0.7 to 0.8 million new
consumers are connecting with an electric power grid that needs
1 GW of electric power. Thus, the demand is increasing at the
rate of 7.8%. In 2020, the shortfall will reach to 10.8GW [4].
The decline in electricity generation is also affecting the
industrial sector eventually the export of the Pakistan decreases
due to underproduction [1].
Pakistan is spending 14.5 billion US dollar on conventional
energy resources and 20 % of foreign exchange on importing
fossil fuels [5]. According to the report of the International
Energy Agency, the demand for electric power in Pakistan will
be 49 GW in 2050 [6]. It shows a three-time increase in demand
for electric power. However, the electricity generation is not
increasing as the electricity demand does.
The percentage of electric power generated from conventional
energy resource in 2017 are shown in Figure 1. The figure
shows that almost all the energy is obtained from fossil fuel and
it is not enough to fulfill the energy requirement of the country.
In order to fulfill the demand, the exploration of new energy
sources is a need of the day.

978-1-5386-7027-9/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE

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Thermal,
64%
Hydro,
30.00%
Nuclear,
6%
Nuclear Thermal Hydro
Fig. 1. Power Generation from different energy resources [7]
Nuclear, 1322MW
Fossil Fuel,
14635MW
Fig. 2. Region Wise generation of Hydropower [7]
In order to increase the generation of electric power, Water And
Power Development Authority (WAPDA), Sarhad Rural
Support Program (SRSP, Pakistan Council for Appropriate
Technologies (PCAT), Pakistan Council of Renewable Energy
Technologies (PCRET),) Alternative Energy Development
Board (AEDB), Renewable Energy Society (PRES) and
Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organization (PEDO) is
working on the promotion and development of hydropower in
Pakistan.
The rest of paper has been organized as follows: Section 2
describes the Electrical Power Generation in Pakistan, Section
3 is about small hydropower in Pakistan, Section 4 is about
barrier to Small Hydro Power Plant while section 5 shows the
impact of hydropower on the environment. Finally, the paper is
concluded in section 6.
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Pakistan is blessed with renewable energy resources (Hydro,
wind, solar etc.) due to its geographical location. The
exploration of these renewable energy resources is required for
the mitigation of the current energy crisis [2]. The dependency
on renewable energy resources is important for the revival of
economic growth as well as environmental concerns [7].
Among the renewable energy resources, hydro energy is in use
from early ages of electric power generation. It provides 19%
of electric power worldwide [8]. Along with large hydro plant,
many countries have also the large potential of the small-scale
hydropower plant. 19GW of electric power is generated from
small hydropower plants in China [11]. Different site for
construction of both small and large hydropower plants are also
available in Pakistan. Pakistan can produce 60GW of electric
power from available hydro resources [12]. Until now, Pakistan
is being able to produce only 74078MW of hydroelectric
power. The generation of hydroelectric power in the different
region of Pakistan is shown in Figure 2. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(KPK) has been able to produce a large proportion of
hydroelectric power.
Renewable Energy,
356MW
Punjab, 1699MW
Hydro, 7405MW
Gilgit-Baltistan,
133MW
AJ & K, 1039MW
khyber Pukhtunkhwa,
4534MW
II. SCENARIO OF ELECTRIC POWER GENERATION
The southern parts of Pakistan have large reserves of coal, oil,
and gas [13] while the northern region has plenty of glaciers.
These glacier act as water resources, that melt to form small
streams and finally rivers [14]. Apart from that Pakistan is
gifted with wind corridor with a wind speed of 13.8 to 16.5 mile
per hour [15]. Solar energy can also be easily converted to
electric power as the intensity of solar energy is 1800-2200
kWh/m2 in a single day [16]. The capacity of renewable and
non-renewable energy resources installed in Pakistan is
26898MW. Different projects under the government of
Pakistan is planning to set up new power plants or extend the
old one. The capacity of under construction and proposed
power plant is given in Table 1.
TABLE I. CURRENT SCENARIO & FUTURE PROSPECT OF ELECTRIC According to region wise categorization of hydroelectric
power, 40% of existing hydropower resources are available in
POWER GENERATION [17]
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, 36% of the identified
Source Proposed Under Installed resources are available in Gilgit-Baltistan. The statistical data
Plant (MW) Construction Capacity of identified hydro resources and operational power plants in
(MW) (MW) different regions of Pakistani is given in Figure 4.
Fossil Fuel 2840 7,816 20,218
Hydro 37,533 7127 10,150

Electric Power (MW)

Nuclear --- 3200 1405 21867
Solar PV 1957 364.5 431
20887

Wind 1100 2325 996.5

Bagasse --- 446.5 611.25 In Operation
Biomass 40 26 0.1
Indentified
Waste Heat recovery --- 10 78 5592 5411
Total 43,470 21,315 33,890 3849
1699 1039 133 0.5
0 193 0
Pakistan is also installing power plants of 16.17 GW capacity
under the umbrella of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
(CPEC) [18]. These power plants are likely to be completed in
2020/21. These power plants are summarized in Table 2.
TABLE II. POWER PLANT INSTALLATION UNDER CPEC [18]

Energy Sources Fossil Hydro Wind Solar Fig. 4. Regional Wise operational and identified Resources [12], [19]
Fuel PV
Priority Projects Capacity 7560 1590 200 1000 III. SMALL HYDROPOWER STATUS
(MW)
Actively promoted Projects 4620 1100 100 --
The small hydro technology can be used to mitigate the energy
Capacity (MW) crisis in Pakistan. The small stream and rivers available in the
different region of the country are suitable for installation of
Beside these power projects, WAPDA has discovered various small power plants. Governmental and private organizations
sites, where the hydro plant of 60GW capacity can be installed are working in the energy sector that has focused on small
[12]. While the total installed capacity of hydroelectric power hydropower plants [12]. A governmental organization
is 7407 MW until now. That shows that only 11% of its (PCRET) has installed 678 small hydropower plants in
identified resources is utilized. Hence the need arises to harvest Pakistan. These power plants range from 5-100 kW and
the electrical energy from these identified sources. The large
generate electrical power of 9.507 MW [20]. The number of
portion (39717MW) of these identified resources can be
plants installed by PCRET in a different region of the country
achieved from river Indus followed by river Jhelum
(5624MW). The proportion of each river is given in Figure 3. is given in Table 3.
TABLE III: PLANT INSTALLED BY PCRET [20]

Region Installed Number of Plants Houses

Power (MW) Capacity (kW) Installed Electrified
39717 KPK & FATA 8239.5 553 65337
40000 Gilgit-Baltistan 401.5 72 4010
30000 Baluchistan 80 3 800
AJ&K 786 50 4758
20000 9704
5624 Total 9507 678 74905
10000 1006 462 1480 1803
0 Another organization SRSP is also working on the
electrification of far-flung areas that have no access to the
national grid. From 2006 to 2014, SRSP spent Rs.1.25 million
on the installation of 166 SHPP. These installed plants generate
9.6 MW of electric power to 0.242 million people [21]. In KPK
Fig. 3. Identified Power potential on main rivers [12] region, PEDO is working on the installation of the hydropower

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plant. The power plant installing under the PEDO will provide national grid since 2008 is given in Figure 5 [19]. In 2013,
2156 MW upon completion. On the basis of the time span of 310MW of power is added to the system followed by 2017 in
projects, PEDO has categorized these plants into short-term which 151MW of power is added to the national grid while in
project, medium-term and long-term project, which has been 2009 no power plant was connected to the grid. It is clear from
summarized in Table 4. the figure that 833 MW of electric power is added to the system
since 2008. It is clear from the data that the growth of
TABLE IV: HYDROPOWER DEVELOPMENT 2011-2020 [22]
hydropower in Pakistan is only 12% since 2007.
Plan Short Medium Long Total
Term Term Term 350
(3Years (5 Years) (10 310.7
) Year)
Capacity(MW) 56.2 626.8 1377 2060
300
No. of Projects 3 8 13 24
Cost (Rs.) 12 130.9 187.96 331.3 250
Expected Revenue Per 2 18 54 74
Annum (Rs.) 200
Rs. Rupees in billion 151.8
150 130
The complete details of these projects are summarized in Table 97.2
5. The starting years of these project are 2010/11. The short- 100 72
term projects are completed while the long-term project will 37.6 30.4
50
complete in 2020/21. These projects will generate 2060 MW of 2.2 1.3
0
electrical power, in which 1217 MW of plants will install in 0
Chitral, 406 MW in Mansehra, 205 MW in Upper Dir, 120MW 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
in Swat, 57 MW in Lower Dir, 23 MW in Shangla, 17 MW in
Power (MW)
Kohistan, 10 MW in Batagram and 2.6 MW in Mardan.
TABLE V: HYDRO PLANT INSTALLED BY PEDO [22] Fig. 5. Trends of Hydropower Installed Capacity [19]

Time Span Name of Scheme Capacity Region IV. BARRIERS TO HYDROPOWER

(MW) (District)
Daral Khwar 36.6 Swat Although hydropower is growing rapidly in Pakistan. However,
Short Term Ranolia Khwar 17 Kohistan there are certain barriers that need to be addressed to pave a
Machai Canal 2.6 Mardan pathway for the future development of the energy sector. The
Matiltan 84 Swat hurdles in the development of new hydro plants are Strategy
Lawi 69 Chitral
and monitoring, Funds, policies, unavailability of hydro data
Karora 9.3 Shangla
Medium Jabori 6.5 Mansehra and social barriers.
Term Koto 31 Lower Dir
Sharmai 150 Upper Dir A. Strategy and monitoring
Shusghai 144 Chitral An update structure and design for management of hydropower
Shogosin 132 Chitral plant scheme are needed to sustain the technology in long run.
Arkai Gol 79 Chitral
Barikot-Patrak 34 Upper Dir
[23]. Hydro generation will not increase due to the lack of
Patrak-Shringal 21 Upper Dir knowledge of new developed turbines, generators and control
Shigo Kach 26 Lower Dir structure [24]. A proper strategy should be adopted to boost the
Ghorband 14 Shangla energy sector and monitor the projects in regular interval.
Long Term Nandihar 10 Batagram
Mujigram Shogohore 51 Chitral B. Funds
Istaru Buni 52 Chitral
Balakot 190 Mansehra For establishment and support of any developmental project,
Naran 210 Mansehra financial support plays a key role. Most often in SHPP industry
Gharit Swir Lasht 334 Chitral is underdeveloped due to the lack of proper funding [25]. To
Koragah Parit 223 Chitral overcome this issue one solution to the problem is to get
Laspur Miragram 133 Chitral
assistance from the local community in term of labor or finance
Total (MW) 2060
while another solution is to facilitate private investor to invest
According to the survey report of the International Renewable
in energy sector [23].
Energy Agency (IRENA), the amount of power added to the

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C. Policies
Awareness and proper knowledge of SHPP are necessary for Table VI. GHG emission from different Power Plants [10]
the promotion of industry. Without proper awareness, rural
electrification is not seeming possible. Decision makers are GHG emission
making policies for large hydropower plants but they have put Energy Sources CO2 SO2 NOx
(g/kWh) (g/kWh) (g/kWh)
aside the small power plants. In order to overcome the energy Large hydro 3.6-11.6 0.009-0.024 0.003-0.006
crisis, policies should be revised to provide subsidies to local Geothermal 7-9 0.02 0.28
investors [26]. Likewise, on the technical side, the arrangement Small hydro 9 0.03 0.07
for installing new SHPP is not satisfactory. The deficient Wind 7-9 0.02-0.09 0.02-0.06
supply of reasonable low-price generators, turbine parts also Solar photovoltaic 98-167 0.2-0.34 0.18-0.30
Solar thermal electric 26-38 0.13-0.27 0.06-0.13
acts as a barrier to the installation of SHPP. For the
Natural gas (CCGT) 430 -- 0.5
development of the energy sector, the equipment and parts use Diesel 772 1.6 12.3
in SHPP should be made available easily with low cost in the Oil (Best Practice) 818 14.2 4.0
country [27]. Coal (NOx) and FGD 987 1.5 2.9
Coal (Best Practice) 955 11.8 4.3
D. Unavailability of reliable Data g/kWh: gram/kWh, FGD: Flue-gas desulfurization, CCGT:
Combined Cycle Gas Turbines
Unavailability of data related to hydro resources is also a major
barrier to the promotion of hydropower plant. Seasonal
variation in river flow, the demand for electric power, VI. CONCLUSION
geographical and geological data plays important role in the
This paper concludes that Pakistan has 60 GW of Hydropower
development of new power plant. The unavailability of these
potential. The available potential is enough for mitigating the
type of data creates a barrier for investors [28], [29].
energy crisis. But only 7228 MW of electric power is generated
E. Social Barrier from hydro resource so far. The small hydro and large hydro
need special attention due to its lowest contribution to global
The propagation of SHPP is also affected due to the opposition
warming. Government needs to make and implement policies
of local communities. The opposition is due to various reasons.
to encourage private investor in the hydroelectric power sector.
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