The Wapda has completed 121 megawatt (MW) Allai Khwar Hydropower Project and put it on mechanical run on Monday.

The Wapda spokesman said the project would start electricity generation on trial basis by the end of February, adding the commercial generation was planned during first week of March.Allai Khwar Hydropower Project has been constructed on Allai Khwar, a tributary of Indus River in district Battgram of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Main components of the project include 88-meter long and 51-meter high concrete dam, the 2.3-kilometer long steel-lined tunnel, power house comprising two generating units of 61.5 MW each, at record design head of 687 meter and a switchyard. Environment-friendly Allai Khwar Hydropower Project generates 560 million units of low-cost hydel electricity per annum, resulting in saving million of dollars on the corresponding generation of costly thermal energy. Annual benefits of the project have been estimated about Rs.4.5 billion.

Allai Khwar is the second of the three high-head hydropower projects, which has gone operational. The other two include the 72 MW-Khan Khwar and the 130 MW-Duber Khwar hydropower projects. The Khan Khwar Hydropower Project has already been completed in November 2010 while the third i.e. Duber Khwar Hydropower Project is also nearing completion, it was informed.

Allai Khwar Hydropower Project is a part of least-cost energy generation plan of Wapda being executed on priority to cope with the increasing needs of electricity and water in the country. Under the plan, Wapda is working on 26 large and medium-sized projects with cumulative electricity generation capacity of 21,000 MW and water storage capacity of 13 million acre feet (MAF). Of these projects, six multipurpose schemes with power generation capacity of over 400 MW and water storage capacity of 1.23 MAF will be completed in next two three months.