Work on the much awaited gas insulated switchgear (GIS) sub station of the KSEB in Kollam will be inaugurated on Thursday by Minister for Power Aryadan Mohammed.
The construction work will be at the KSEB’s Kollam circle office complex in the city. The 40 mega volt ampere (MVA) capacity sub station is coming up at a cost of Rs.43.69 crore.
The sub station is expected to be commissioned in two years. Deputy Chief Engineer of the KSEB Shaji Peter Kallada told media persons here on Tuesday that the sub station would have the capacity to provide quality power without interruptions and transmission loss to meet the growing power needs of the city and peripheral areas for the next 12 years.
The sub station work is being carried out on the basis of the calculation that the power demand in Kollam city was growing at the rate of 7 per cent annually. The GIS sub station will stand on 47 cents of land and will be fed by 110 kV underground cables from the 110 kV Ayathil sub station that is 3.5 kms away.
The advantage of the sub station is that it requires only one-tenth of the land area required to accommodate traditional sub stations of the same capacity. These sub station use gas sulfur hexafluoride for insulation, which considerably reduces maintenance costs.
The current power requirements of Kollam city is met from the Ayathil and Kavanad sub stations through seven 11 kV feeders with a capacity of 30 MVA.
With the commissioning of the GIS sub station, Kollam city’s power position will be added by nine 11 kV feeders with a capacity of 40 MVA.
The original plan for the Kollam GIS sub station was made in March 2008.
Power demand in Kollam growing at 7 per cent annually.
Sub station could meet the demand for 12 years.
