THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the State Cabinet clearing four mini hydroelectric projects on Monday, Kerala has made its first foray into private power generation in the hydel sector for mass consumption.

Until now, only captive power plants have come up in the hydel sector in the State. The four mini hydroelectric projects, being promoted by Kochi-based Parkson Hydro Projects, a consortium involving four entities, are expected to go on stream by 2009. The projects will have a combined installed capacity of 20.5 megawatts and together see investment in the region of Rs.125 crore. Three of the four projects should be ready by the close of the 2007-'08 fiscal and the fourth in 2008-'09, Varghese P. Mathew managing partner of Parkson Hydro Projects, has said.

The four projects would together generate 65 million units of power annually and remain operational for eight months a year. The projects that have been cleared are Upper Vattappara (3 MW) and Lower Vattappara (7 MW) in Palakkad district, Upper Peringol (7 MW) in Thrissur district and Kurumpetti (3.5 MW) in Pathanamthitta district. Work on these projects will begin in 2007 and except for the Upper Peringol project, which is being executed across Chalakudy river, all the projects are expected to be commissioned within a year. The projects are being executed on Build, Own, Operate and Transfer basis., the transfer set to take place in the 25th year. Power from these projects will be supplied to the KSEB.

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