The Kerala State Electricity Board’s completion of the 200-kV gas-insulated substation at Kaloor, the Brahmapuram-Thuthiyoor 220/110-kV multi-circuit-multi-voltage line, the Thuthiyoor-Kaloor 220 kV underground cable and the two 220-kV line bays at the 220-kV Brahmapuram substation is expected to ensure adequate and quality power supply for the city of Kochi over the next 30 to 40 years.
The gas-insulated substation and the 7-km Thuthiyoor-Kaloor underground cable link are the first such projects in Kerala, according to KSEB sources.
The projects are expected to go on stream as soon as they are tested as scheduled on Monday. Since the State is in the midst of elections to local government bodies, there will be no official inauguration of the projects.
The projects had been taken up under the Transgrid 2.0 programme, considering the rapidly increasing power requirements of the city. The KSEB sources said the 110-kV Kaloor substation was inaugurated in 1993. At that time, the power requirement was about 40 MW. However, with the growth of the city, the power requirement has increased to about 100 MW. Though the requirement is currently being met, the entire system is overloaded and needs substantial upgrading.
One of the major challenges in completing the ₹150-crore project was linking the Brahmapuram and Kaloor facilities. With high density of population, overhead cables proved quite an impossible proposal. The solution was found in having a four-km overhead cable link up to Thuthiyoor and then linking Thuthiyoor and Kaloor through an underground cable system over a 7-km segment. The work was completed at a cost of around ₹70 crore.
