Kerala Kaumudi impact; KSEB to expedite delayed power projects

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: KSEB has initiated steps to bring hydropower projects which have been in construction for a long time to completion. Kerala Kaumudi had published a headline on May 29 and an editorial on May 30 about the wastage of money on hydropower projects that have been dragging on for ten to twenty years. The project implementation system was reorganized for timely completion as this was recognised in the study conducted by KSEB.

The Rees section, which was exclusively for solar power generation, was eliminated. The post of Chief Engineer Project was created and empowered to coordinate different production areas and execute the project. The hydel, wind, pumped storage and solar divisions will be under him. This officer will also coordinate investigation, construction of dam, installation of generator and installation of control mechanism. In connection with the projects, it has been decided to provide training to engineers and appoint interested engineers.

The Minister will review at regular intervals. A rapidly deployable battery energy storage system will be installed. Offshore wind farms, vertical wind turbines and wave power will take years to implement and will not be considered soon.

Potential of 5000 MW in hydro projects

According to the study report of KSEB, in the current situation, only hydropower projects with a production capacity of less than 250 MW may be completed in five years. The new system aims to change this. About 5000 MW is to be sourced from hydropower projects. Kerala also has the potential to generate 3150 MW from pumped storage, 8000 MW from solar and 3000 MW from wind.

192.91 MW in 15 years

In 15 years only 192.91 MW of new generation capacity has been achieved in hydropower projects. Two megawatts of electricity are being generated from wind. Through rooftop Solar, a production capacity of more than 1,000 megawatts has been achieved in three years. However, the production capacity of solar power plants of KSEB is only 229.31MW.

Thottiyar (40MW) started in 2007, Pallivasal Extension (60MW) started in 2009 and Sengulam Augmentation Scheme (85 million units) started in the same year have not been completed.