The Tarbela 5th Extension Project is a major hydropower development undertaken at Tarbela Dam, located on the Indus River in District Swabi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The project was developed to enhance electricity generation capacity, reduce load shedding and support employment generation during construction as well as operation and maintenance phases. It also contributes to the development of fisheries and improved utilization of existing water infrastructure.
The project involves the use of Tunnel Five, which was already constructed and originally intended for irrigation purposes. The tunnel is concrete and steel lined with a total length of 3,675 feet. Under the fifth extension, a dedicated powerhouse was developed with an installed generation capacity of 1,530 megawatts through three units of 510 megawatts each. The project is capable of producing approximately 1,347 gigawatt hours of electricity annually, providing clean and low-cost hydropower to the national grid.
