The generation of power at the Kerala State Electricity Board’s hydel station at Idukki fell by half on Saturday following the detection of a fault in the main inlet valve of generator three.
Three of the six generators at the power station were shut down soon after 10.30 a.m. to facilitate repair work on the valve.
Top KSEB officials said here that the repair would take at least 10 days. Since the same pipeline brought water to the three generators, the repair of inlet valve of one generator necessitated the shutdown of all three machines.
CM allays concerns
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told The Hindu on Saturday that all efforts would be made to make good the power deficit. “Only if such efforts do not succeed will the government consider other measures, including load-shedding,” he said.
The State may be able to manage with the reduced power availability till Monday, a KSEB official, who oversees generation and distribution, told The Hindu .
“Even though the board will take every effort to avoid load-shedding, a final picture will emerge only on Monday when the demand and supply situation becomes clearer,” he said.
Efforts are on to purchase power from the power exchange and from private power generating firms. The board will have to purchase at least 250 MW daily to tide over the deficit in generation till the valve repair is over. Each generator at Idukki has the capacity to churn out 130 MW daily, the official said.
KSEB officials said they estimated that the State might experience a shortage of power from Tuesday when the demand surged.
