Work is in progress for the Kerala State Electricity Board’s (KSEB) small hydro-electric power (SHEP) utilising the reservoir of the Pazhassi Irrigation Project (PIP).
The ₹79-crore Pazhassi Sagar SHEP, as the project is known, is being developed by the KSEB for using the water resource at the PIP reservoir for power generation. The SHEP with an installed capacity of 7.5 MW will have three turbines of 2.5 MW. Rock excavation works including blasting are going on now as the project is planned to be commissioned in 2020. Civil works will start after the monsoon, according to officials. Of the total project cost, ₹20 crore will be central grant from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
“Water from the Pazhassi reservoir will be diverted through a system of tunnels directly to the three units in the power house,” KSEB Assistant Executive Engineer Vinod Das said. The pressure shafts system of the SHEP includes a combination of three underground tunnels for transporting water from the reservoir to the powerhouse, he said adding that the tunnels include a tunnel with larger diameter branched into three tunnels with smaller diameters.
Reacting to concerns raised by PIP engineers that areas near the upstream including Iritty town would face flooding if the SHEP requires closure of the shutters of the PIP barrage across the Valapattanam river at Kuyiloor near Mattannur during monsoon season to maintain full reservoir level (FRL), KSEB engineers said that the shutters would be operated through a system automation to maintain the FRL. Moreover, the KSEB’s small hydroelectric project at Barapol in the upstream of the river could ensure communication for taking timely decision on operation of the shutters, they said.
Though the reservoir of the project was originally meant to regulate water in the Valapattanam river for the irrigation purpose, it is now Kerala Water Authority’s main source of water for supply through its pipeline.
