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Sunday, May 18, 2008
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Measures to avoid load-shedding

Staff Reporter

– Photo: Leju Kamal

Charred: The remains of Generator IV at the Moozhiyar power house which exploded on Friday.

MOOZHIYAR (Pathanamthitta district): Power Minister A.K. Balan has said the government will explore all possibilities to avoid load-shedding in the State in view of the explosion at the power house of the Sabarigiri hydro-electric project on Friday. The State has already moved the Centre for allotment of additional power from the Central pool to tide over the crisis.

The Minister, accompanied by Raju Abraham, MLA; Rajeev Sadanandan, Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) Chairman; and Board members Johnson Jacob and K. Asokan visited the power house to take stock of the situation. Two persons were killed and 15 persons injured in the explosion.

With the shutdown of the 300-MW Moozhiyar power house, along with the 50-MW Kakkad power house that has been generating power with the tailrace flowing from Moozhiyar, the State is faced with an effective power shortage of 275 MW, leaving a generation deficit of 5.5 million units a day, according to experts.

Meanwhile, a technical breakdown at the power stations at Thalchar in Orissa and Neyveli in Tamil Nadu has reportedly led to a similar power crisis in the southern power grid and everything depended upon the State’s chances of getting additional power supply from the Central pool, Mr. Balan said.

Mr. Balan said the government would set up a mechanism to ensure safety of power generation centres in the State, on the lines of the Dam Safety Authority.

He said the expert panel led by the KSEB Chairman had already submitted a report in this regard and the proposed authority would come into being soon. An expert team would conduct a detailed investigation into the explosion, he said. Further analysis would be available only after examining data stored in the computer at the control room, he said.

The KSEB chairman said technical experts were exploring the possibility of resuming power generation at Moozhiyar by operating Generators V and VI at the earliest.

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