Kerala has taken a big leap towards ensuring power security by covering its entire area under the inter-State power transmission network, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
He was inaugurating a slew of projects in the State’s power sector including the construction of a 400-KV Gas Insulated Sub-station (GIS) at Kuruvilangadu in Kottayam and the opening of a110-KV substation at Thiruvalla through video conference on Monday.
According to the Chief Minister, the restoration of the Edamon-Kochi 400-KV Power Highway has helped bring down the transmission loss from Kudamkulam to a great extent. The HVDC line from Pukalur in Tamil Nadu and its substation at Thrissur, a project, which was stalled due to various reasons, too is nearing completion.
Minister for Electricity, who presided over the function, said plans were afoot to appoint 436-meter readers and 97 assistant engineers in the Kerala State Electricity Board. The department had so far provided permanent employment to over 34,000 persons and of these, as many as 4,230 were appointed during the last four years, he said.
The proposed GIS sub-station in Kottayam forms part of the ₹10,000-crore Transgrid project, which seeks to double the domestic transmission capacity of Kerala. On completion, it will become the first 400-KV sub-station to come up in the district.
The project, being established at a 15-acre property near Njaralamkulam, is slated to be operational in two years from now and will help reduce the overall transmission loss and save 1196.5 lakh units of electricity per year.
The station will receive power from the Kudamkulam power line and redistribute the power through six feeders. The State government has accorded an administrative sanction of ₹285 crore through the KIIFB for completing the project.
Meanwhile, the authorities have expended ₹2.95 crore for upgrading the 66 KV sub-station at Thiruvalla as 110 KV sub-station by connecting it to the Mallappally-Chengannur 110 KV using underground cable. The project will help ensure uninterrupted power supply to as many as 45,000 consumers in and around the region.
