Cochin International airport launches hydropower plant

Cochin international airport is now the first airport in India to add a hydropower generation station.

The power plant with a yearly power production capacity of 14 million units will be launched on November 6 at Arippara near Kozhikode. The power will be supplied to the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) grid in November first week.

Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the Rs 52 crore project. The 4.5 MW run-of-the-river small hydro project (SHP) was granted 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 term of 30 years.

Under BOOT, the developer develops a project, owns and runs it for a specified number of years to recover expenses and gain a profit, and gives it back to the government when the lease expires. CIAL is a partnership between the Government of Kerala and non-resident Indians (NRIs), airport service providers and the general public.

CIAL has built a weir across the Iruvazhinji river and hydro-mechanical and electro-mechanical systems at Arippara, near Kodenchery in Kozhikode district. Although development was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, it was able to build the project in September and commence a trial run in October.

The powerhouse will produce about 108,000 units of power a day during peak flow days, and the plant could likely meet total capacity for 130 days a year. Yearly power production is estimated at 14 million units.

Presently, CIAL is providing excess solar power of 40,000 units after its consumption to the KSEB grid. The Power from the hydel power project can be completely supplied to KSEB and could bring a higher price for CIAL. The rate at which the hydel power is to be provided is yet to be worked out.

Being a run-of-the-river project, the SHP at Arippara works on limited water storage, creating no disadvantageous effect on the environment. A powerhouse with horizontal turbines has been set up on the right bank of the river with an established capacity of 4.5 MW.

With the maximum amount of civil works to be built along the river banks, the project was severely hit during the two devastating floods of 2018 and 2019. A lot of additional precautions had to be taken by transforming the designs and also by bringing additional retaining structures to guarantee safe working conditions for workers. The site lies in Nellipoyil village near Kodencheri, 45 km from Kozhikode city.

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Also read: Andhra Pradesh energy dept to build 33 GW hydro storage power plants

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