Year: 2022

Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) Chairman Lt Gen Sajjad Ghani (Retd) has said that his foremost priority is to complete under-construction WAPDA projects as per their schedules, in addition to initiating new projects to cope with increasing requirements of water and electricity in the country. This was the crux of the Chairman’s interaction during a week-long briefing sessions about under construction WAPDA projects including Mohmand Dam, Diamer Basha Dam and Dasu Hydropower Project. WAPDA Members Finance, Water and Power, Diamer Basha Dam Chief Executive Officer, General Managers and…

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When it comes to turning turbines, steam is out and supercritical carbon dioxide is in – as demonstrated by Sandia National Labs when it connected a closed-loop system to the local grid, supplying about 10 kilowatts of power for nearly an hour.  Sandia’s experimental unit uses carbon dioxide in a supercritical state (pressurized to behave like a liquid and gas) to move a turbine. Supercritical CO2 can get far hotter than steam, and could be far more efficient if scaled to power plant levels and heated via nuclear, solar or fossil fuels. Ten…

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Solar panels aren’t just for rooftops anymore—some buildings even have these power-generating structures all over their facades. But as more buildings and public spaces incorporate photovoltaic technologies, their monotonous black color could leave onlookers underwhelmed. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Nano have created solar panels that take on colorful hues while producing energy nearly as efficiently as traditional ones. Solar panels are typically a deep black color because their job is to absorb light, whereas a red car looks red because the finish reflects red light instead of absorbing it.…

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In a welcoming development, the coalition government has done away with all the hurdles that had delayed the construction of four LNG terminals during the PTI government’s tenure, a senior official told The News. “Ahead of prime minister’s visit to Qatar, the ECC has amended the LNG Policy 2001 for exemption from mandatory Third Party-Access (TPA) to new LNG terminals to ensure sizeable foreign direct investment from Qatar in the Energas Terminal,” said the official. Pakistan currently has the capacity to import 1.2 bcfd LNG. But in the wake of…

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Pakistan is reviewing a proposal to receive upfront 20% of the total cost of five China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects as deposits in the central bank in a bid to get breathing space amid declining foreign exchange reserves. The proposal has been discussed at the highest level as the prime minister has given instruction to further fine-tune it, a cabinet minister told The Express Tribune. He said that at least five CPEC projects were discussed during a meeting, having total estimated value of $7 billion. As per the proposal, Pakistan…

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