Educational Trip to Hydro Power Station

Reported by Habiba Mir

A field trip was organized by Girls Middle and Community High School Thingdass Singal, District Ghizer GB Pakistan on August 20, 2019. The students of grade 9 science group along with physics teachers Aslam Parvaiz and two others went for the trip to Hydro Electric Power Station Phase II, located in a snow-capped valley of Singal, district Ghizer GB. Pakistan. The students arrived at the location at 10:00 am with prior permission of the department.

The purpose of the visit was to provide a rare opportunity to Government Middle School Thingdass students to interact with and learn about the power and energy generating environment. The students had studied in advance and were aware of the field of power generation.

In village Singal there are three power stations, namely Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3. Phase 1 is 1 km away from Girls Middle and community School Thingdass. It started generating electricity in 1971. The project was completed at the cost of 67 lac rupee. Equipped with two turbines, the power house’s total generating capacity is 130 kva. Unfortunately, the power house is not working because its water channel was damaged by floods last year.

The phase 2 power station is located 2 km away from Girls Middle and community School Thingdass. There are two units of hydro turbines in phase 2, with installed capacity of 1.2 MW.

Phase 3 is under construction with a potential power capacity of 2 MW, scheduled to complete by 2020.

The students’ trip was to the Singal Power Station Phase 2. The trip began at 9 am from the School. The students marched towards the Singal Phase 2 power station, and reached the destination by 10 a.m.  After taking permission they are allowed to enter the power station premises. The area was risky too, so at the gate itself they were being told about all the precautions to be taken care of.

Mr. Mamtaz and Mr. Ahsan, officials of the power house, briefed the students about the working mechanism of the project. A brief on the equipment used in the project was also given. It was told that the power generation capacity of Singal Phase 2 power station is 1.2 MW. It was established in the year 2007. The project was implemented by Government of Gilgit Baltistan. The cost of the project was approximately 5 crore. It contains 2 units or power generating machines. The guides also said that the power house caters to the population from Gulapur to Gahkuch. They added that due to higher demand, load shedding has to be practiced.

The guides also informed us that to manage the high flow of water a subway was constructed at the upper gate itself were a water reservoir was constructed approximately 4 km  from the base project area.

Later, the students were taken to the upper gate which is located at Singal Kini where the channel’s guards briefed us about the passing and bypassing of water. Measures are taken periodically to prevent chocking of the pipes by providing grids on the inlet itself.

After a successful visit of the site, at around 1 p.m. students started their journey back towards the school.

Overall the educational trip to Singal Phase 2 Power station was very useful. It offered the students an opportunity to further cement their knowledge of the power generation process.

Based on their observations, the students requested the government to equip the staff working at the power stations because due to lack of safety equipment their hearing gets affected, as the machines make loud noises. The students also observed that the linemen and other workers did not have safety equipment like gloves, which makes puts them at risk. After becoming aware of the gap between power supply and demand, the students promised to raise awareness about avoiding unnecessary usage of electricity.

The contributor is a student of 9th class at Govt. Girls Middle School and Community High School Thingdas, Ghizer.