LAHORE: Pakistan has been rated third on the earth among best 20 nations for recently installed hydropower capacity in 2018. The nation was located at a 3rd place by the United Kingdom-based renowned organization — International Hydropower Association ( IHA ) — in its recently granted record titled “2019: Hydropower Status Report — Sector Trends and Insights”.
Formed under the auspices of Unesco in 1995 as a forum to promote and disseminate good practice about hydropower, IHA champions nonstop development and sustainable practices across the field. According to IHA record while listing down best 20 nations by recently installed capability states that Pakistan managed to add 2,487MW of hydel electricity in 2018 following China and Brazil at the 1st and 2nd rung that added 8,540MW and 3,866MW to their methods respectively.
Turkey with the addition of 1085MW and Angola with the addition of 668MW remained at 4th and 5th rankings respectively as far as recently set up hydro capability is concerned. Neighbouring India stood at the 8th position by adding 535MW hydel electric to its method recently.
The report places Tajikistan at No.6 for adding 605 MW followed by Ecuador ( 556MW ), India ( 535MW ), Norway ( 419 ), Canada ( 401MW ), Austria ( 385 ), Cambodia ( 300MW ), Laos ( 254MW ), Zimbabwe ( 150MW ), United States ( 141MW ), Iran ( 140MW ), Congo ( 121MW ), Colombia ( 111MW ), Peru ( 111MW ) and Chile ( 110MW ).
As far as the latest addition of hydropower in Pakistan is concerned, the nation registered a boost of 36 percent in its entire hydel generation capability in just 1 year, like before this, Wapda could only manage to take its hydel generation to 6,902 MW in 59 years of its inception from the year 1958 to 2017. The country has an identified potential of generating 60,000MW of low-priced hydel electrical power.