A view of the Mukkudam small hydro power undertaking in Idukki
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRNAGEMENT
Continuing their friendship from their school days, this band of seven engineers have joined palms to launch a 4 Mega Watt (MW) small hydel power undertaking in Idukki.
Their efforts of nine years have yielded fruit with the undertaking happening stream final week.
Rakesh Roy, Faris E.M., Nitish S.J., Renjini M., Unni S. Sankar, Cyriac Jose, and Rijo Joseph have been classmates within the 2006 batch on the Federal Institute of Science And Technology at Angamaly.
“In 2014 I was working in Bengaluru when I read in papers that power projects can be taken up by private groups. I shared this idea with my friends and we formed a company Mukkudam Electro Energy Private Limited,” says Rakesh Roy, a resident of Kambilikandam within the district.
Rakesh, Chief Managing Director of the corporate, says in 2015 a proposal for a 1 MW undertaking was submitted for which the federal government granted permission in 2018. “From 2016, we monitored water availability in the area and found that a 4 MW project was more suitable. We submitted a revised project and got approval in 2021.”
“Construction began in February 2021 and was over in October 2023. The project uses water from Parathode, which joins the Muthirapuzha river at Adimali. A dam, 10-metre-high and 29.4-metre in length, was set up at Chathurakkallippara. Water reaches the powerhouse through a 1.31-km-long penstock,” he says.
A view of the Mukkudam small hydro power undertaking in Idukki
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
“Two turbines generate 4 MW a day, and the project is connected to the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) grid of the Neriamangalam powerhouse. The expected power generation of the project is 11 million units a year. The total cost of the project is ₹31 crore,“ says Rakesh.
He says the company will provide 10,000 units a month to the Adimali Taluk Hospital free of cost. “We hope it will help meet the major share of power requirements of the hospital. We have submitted a letter to the Idukki Collector in this regard,” he says.
“I have a personal attachment with the Adimali hospital. My father and grandfather had there,” he says.
Adimali hospital superintendent Sunil A. Kumar says the typical electrical energy use of the hospital a month is eighteen,356 items and the invoice comes round ₹1.50 lakh. “It is a positive decision to provide power to the hospital,“ he says.
KSEB executive engineer Santhosh T. Abraham says the KSEB has signed a contract with the group and connected the power to the KSEB grid and will provide payment “Before connecting the power, the KSEB will synchronise voltage and frequency of the power equal to KSEB line,” he says.
