Abstract:
Pakistan has a huge potential for the natural resources and the exploitation of surface water
for the generation of hydropower energy is the cheapest option for the country. The province
of KP is a reserve for untapped 30,000 MW and Kunhar river is a major stakeholder in
energy potential. Kunhar River is currently selected for five hydropower projects for
generating enough electricity for the people of KP and Kashmir. Of the five projects, the
study focused on the effect of Suki Kinari dam on the downstream Patrind Weir under
optimized release conditions, the latter being in operational. The first phase was rearranging
of Patrind Weir to match the observed outcome of the plant as the existing operation of the
project contradicted the design. An efficiency curve was deduced with R^2 =0.8,0.79,0.8
&0.79 for the available information from 2018-2021. Separate calibration and validation
tools were employed to convince the applicability of the global efficiency of the turbines. The
second phase involved the cascading effect of Suki Kinari on Patrind’s power output which
constituted the core of the study. Operational guide curves for Suki Kinari’s impact were
considered for 2018-2021 and witnessed a low impact on the power production from turbines
at D/s plant. Two scenarios were tested under the guise of optimal annual energy from both
projects working in cascade. Optimal guide curves were produced for Suki-Kinari under the
limited data, but they produced satisfactory response. The low turnout of the scheme can be
directed to actual flow not according to design flow duration curve. Furthermore, the shallow
impact of Suki Kinari on Patrind might possibly be due to vast distance between the two
reservoirs separated by large catchment area that is subjected to strong climatic event of
precipitation at Balakot and Talhatta. Thus, analyzation of cascading effect of Suki Kinari
requires the involvement of Balakot dam which lies in between the reservoirs in this study
and longer duration of hydrological dataset for the catchment in necessary.
