In view of the State facing severe shortage of power, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has decided to employ the currently non-operational Kozhikode Diesel Power Project (KDPP) at Nallalam here during the off-peak season including the monsoons.
Sources said that the KSEB higher-ups would soon take a final call on floating tenders for obtaining the Low Sulphur Heavy Stock (LSHS), a residual fuel processed from crude, from oil companies for running the thermal plant. At present the plant had run out of LSHS though it had managed to operate for three months till May after securing 3,200 metric tons of fuel at cheap rate from a decommissioned plant of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL).
The only problem was that the cost of running the plant was quite high. However, the plant contributed to improving the voltage position of Malabar. Usually the plant is operated between 6.30 p.m. and 11 p.m. following directives from the Kalamassery State Load Dispatch Centre, the apex body to ensure integrated operation of the power system in Kerala.
Incidentally, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) the KSEB had inked with BPCL to supply the fuel expired long ago. Also for several years the plant had remained closed for multiple reasons including the poor maintenance and non-payment of dues to the oil company.
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited had set up the 128-MW Kozhikode plant at a cost of ₹390 crore on a turnkey basis and it was handed to the KSEB in April 2000. Its installed capacity was 30.7 lakh units per day, and it had achieved a generation of 27.5 lakh units of electricity during the initial phase. The power generated is transferred to the Nallalam Sub Station and then to the Kerala State Grid.
As of now, the sources said, only six of the generators supplied by Wartsila of Finland functioned in the plant. Two faulty machines were de-commissioned sometime back. Even then a machine has a capacity to generate 11 megawatt. Continuously operating the machines would also lead to huge expenditure. Today the cost of the LSHS was quoted at ₹30,000 per metric ton.
But the utmost priority is to support the grid during an emergency situation. One of the reasons the State going for thermal power was that some hydel power projects had to be scuttled or abandoned after protests.