The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has commissioned the newly installed >generator-IV at the Moozhiyar Power House of the Sabarigiri hydro-electric project on Thursday.
The synchronisation of the newly installed 60 MW generator was successfully completed in the presence of KSEB member (generation) Mohammed Ali Rawther and Chief Engineer (generation) Ouseph Joseph.
The generator-IV had exploded on May 16, 2008. The KSEB had signed an agreement with Chinese company Poission De Leau for replacing the blown out generator with a new 60 MW machine at an estimated cost of Rs.45 crore in December, 2009.
Mr. Rawther told The Hindu that the installed capacity of the Moozhiyar Power House had gone up to 340 MW with the commissioning of generator-IV.
According to him, all the six generators at Moozhiyar started functioning after a gap of 10 years.
Reservoirs
Mr. Rawther said the Kakki-Anathode twin reservoir and the Pampa reservoir of the Sabarigiri project had been receiving good inflow since the past two weeks. The Sabarigiri reservoirs received a rainfall of 39 mm on Wednesday.
The reservoirs received a total inflow that could be enough to generate 14.5 million units of power on Wednesday alone, he said.
The total water storage in the Kakki-Anathode and Kochu Pampa reservoirs as on Thursday morning would be enough to generate 915 mu of electricity against its previous year’s storage position of 455 mu, he said.
Valve replacement
Mr. Rawther said power generation at Moozhiyar would be stopped for 30 days from July 7 to facilitate replacement of the damaged butterfly valve of the penstock pipe-II.
He said KSEB had decided to replace all leaking valves in the penstock pipes on the basis of a recommendation of the expert committee that had inquired into the Panniyar penstock pipe burst in Idukki.
All the three butterfly valves of the three penstock pipes at Sabarigiri were found leaking and it would be replaced in a phased manner, he said.
The replacement of the Chinese butterfly valve in the penstock-II would cost Rs.175 lakh, he said.
