Cochin International Airport (Image Source: Shutterstock)
After becoming the first airport in India to come up through a public-private partnership (PPP) and the world’s first to operate on solar power, Cochin international airport has added another feather to its cap by starting a hydropower station.
The power plant with annual power generation capacity of 14 million units will be commissioned on November 6 at Arippara near Kozhikode. The power will be fed to the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) grid in the first week of November.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the Rs 52 crore project. The 4.5 MW run-of-the river small hydro project (SHP) was awarded to Cochin International Airport by the Kerala government’s power department as part of its SHP policy on a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) basis for a lease period of 30 years.
Under BOOT, the developer builds a project, owns and operates it for a specified number of years to recover costs and earn a profit, and hands it back to the government when the lease expires. CIAL is a partnership between the Kerala government and non-resident Indians (NRIs), the general public and airport service providers
CIAL has constructed a weir across Iruvazhinji river and hydro-mechanical and electro-mechanical systems at Arippara, near Kodencheri in Kozhikode district. Although construction was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was able to complete the project in September and begin a trial run in October.
The powerhouse will generate around 108,000 units of power a day during peak flow days and it is estimated that the plant could reach full capacity for 130 days a year. Annual power generation is estimated at 14 million units.
First of eight
“When the country is deliberating on a power crisis, it is the leadership and guidance of CM Vijayan, as chairman of CIAL which turned out to be decisive to speed up the project implementation. We are sure that this will impart further momentum to set up such hydro projects across the state which has 44 rivers and numerous streams,’’ said S Suhas, managing director of CIAL.
According to a CIAL spokesperson, this is the first of eight hydel power stations CIAL has been permitted to construct. Another two hydel power stations are likely to come up in the next two to three years in Idukki. The construction of other hydel projects will be taken up only after the completion of feasibility studies.
CIAL is supplying excess solar power of 40,000 units after its own consumption to the KSEB grid. The power from the hydel power project can be fully transferred to KSEB and could fetch a higher price for CIAL. The rate at which the hydel power is to be supplied is yet to be worked out.
Run-of-the-river project
At present CIAL is supplying excess solar power of 40,000 units after its own consumption to the KSEB grid. The power from the hydel power project can be fully transferred to KSEB and could fetch a higher price for CIAL. The rate at which the hydel power is to be supplied is yet to be worked out.
Being a run-of-the-river project, the SHP at Arippara works on limited storage of water, causing no adverse effect on the environment. A powerhouse with horizontal turbines has been installed on the right bank of the river with an installed capacity of 4.5 MW.
With a majority of civil works to be constructed along the river banks, the project was severely affected during the two devastating floods of 2018 and 2019. A lot of additional precautions had to be taken by modifying the designs and also by introducing additional retaining structures to ensure safe working conditions for workers. The site lies in Nellipoyil village near Kodencheri 45 km from Kozhikode city.
