Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

15-day load shedding in State

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Cabinet on Thursday approved the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) proposal to impose half-an-hour load shedding all over the State, with the exception of Sabarimala, during the peak load hours between 6.30 p.m. and 10 p.m. in view of the maintenance work at the Neriyamangalam Extension Project from January 1 to 15.

Addressing a press conference here after the weekly Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said the Cabinet expressed its protest against the cut in power allocation for Kerala from the Central pool to the extent of 183 MW and urged the Centre to restore its share immediately.

He said the State was eligible for 323 MW of power from the Central pool, but 133 MW in April and 50 MW now had been cut leading to a crisis in the power sector.

K.P.M. Basheer writes from Kochi: Five power generating stations in Idukki district, the hub of hydroelectric power in the State, will be shut down for 15 days from January 1.

Officials hinted at continuing with the load shedding in view of the precarious power availability scenario. The shutdown will mean switching off roughly 320 MW generating capacity, which is a substantial amount of power for the State for 15 days.

The stations that are going to be kept idle are: Neriyamangalam (52.5 MW), Pallivasal (37.5 MW), Chengulam (48 MW), Mattupatty (2 MW) and Lower Periyar (180 MW).

According to the present schedule, Mattupatty will be switched off on January 1, Pallivasal and Chengulam on January 2 and the rest on the following day.

The Panniyar power station, heavily damaged in the September 17 penstock burst, is already out of work. Except Lower Periyar, all the above stations are in the Muthirappuzha river basin.

The shutdown coincides with the ‘tunnel drain’ in the Kallarkutty dam to facilitate work related to the laying of pipes for the 25 MW Neriyamangalam Extension Scheme (NES).

The NES was nearing completion and, if everything went well, it would be ready for commissioning in a couple of months, sources said.

The shutdown is to pre-empt slushy water getting into the generators at the power station in the wake of the ‘tunnel drain’ at Kallarkutty.

The controversial flush-out at Kallarkutty early this year, for nearly 40 days, had played havoc with the Lower Periyar generators. The tunnel drain would mean lifting of the sluice gates of Kallarkutty four to seven days.

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