A Chinese company has announced the construction of an 82MW hydropower plant in Chitral
Sinohydro, a Chinese company, will invest $200 million in Chitral, KP to build a run-of-the-river hydropower plant that will generate 82 MWs and 380 GWh of renewable energy per year.
The Turtonas-Uzghor hydropower project will be carried out by Uzghor Hydropower Pvt. Ltd., a joint venture between Sinohydro of China and the Sachal Group of Pakistan.
The project site is 5 kilometers from the present 108MW Golen Gol HPP, which is situated on the Golen Gol River, a tributary of the Mastuj River in Pakistan’s northwestern district of Chitral. Chitral is located near the Gilgit-Baltistan district of Pakistan, which shares a border with China.
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) authorized the sponsors’ tariff petition on April 19, clearing the way for the Sinohydro-led consortium to proceed with the project. According to a NEPRA official paper based on the Gwadar pro’s report, the project will be completed in four years after the commencement of civil works.
The project design, feasibility study, and financial proposal of the project have already been accepted by the Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB). According to NEPRA, the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) has also approved the project to be interconnected with the transmission line of the current Golen Gol HPP, which provides an additional benefit in the project’s execution.