Chimmony Project Likely to be Commissioned in April.

Come April, the folks of Thrissur are all set to receive a unique service from the Chimmony irrigation reservoir - one of the important life lines of the agricultural sector of the district for around two decades. According to senior officials of the Kerala State Electricity Board, the 2.5-Megawatt mini-hydel power project in the reservoir will go live from April.

'Around 95 per cent of the civil and electro-mechanic works on the project have been completed and the remaining works such as installing generators have been going ahead smoothly which will be completed by March-end,' said Anu Francis, the project officer.

Once the remaining works are completed as expected before the revised deadline, the authorities will commission the project most probably in April.

The Rs. 22-crore project, which began in 2011 with an aim of commissioning in 2014, has been languishing for quite some time over a host of reasons, including leakage on dispersion valve, which forced the KSEB authorities to stop the construction work. Later, the irrigation authorities resumed works only after installing new dispersion valve and emergency shutter.

Besides, the construction materials and sheds of the workers were washed away and two 20 HP pumps and construction equipment stored at the construction site were damaged when the shutters of the dam were opened in 2013 following copious rain. Besides, a bund built as part of the 2.5 MW hydro-electric project was also washed away in the strong current, causing significant delay in the project.

The project targets to generate 6.7 million units of electricity annually from the water which will be released for irrigation purpose during the six-month period starting from December to May every year and during another two to three months during the peak time of monsoon making use of the spillover water, said authorities.

It entails an investment of Rs. 22 crores and envisages power generation from the outfall of water through main discharge canal of the reservoir for irrigation and drinking water purposes. The power to be generated from here will be connected to the feeder lines of the Puthukkad sub-station, which supplies power to the neighbouring regions.

Another mini-hydel power project at Peechi dam which has been generating 3.21 million units of electricity annually is already operational in the district, apart from the hydel-power project at Peringalkuthu.


THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS