Kerala Adds New Powerline to Boost Power Import Capability by 800 MW

The Edamon-Kochi power highway has been formally inaugurated and will increase the power import capability of Kerala by 800 MW.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has formally inaugurated the 148 km long Edamon-Kochi power highway which will increase the state’s power import capability by 800 MW.

“With the completion of the Edamon-Kochi power highway, power can be transmitted to Kerala from any part of India through the 400 kV network,” Vijayan said while inaugurating the power line at Adoor, about 90 km from here. Vijayan said his government after taking charge in 2016 completed 93 percent work of this project which had begun in 2005. He said the highway was completed after convincing the people about the project’s importance.

“The Edaman-Kochi Power Highway project has been completed by providing adequate compensation to those who lost their land. The government was also able to convince those who initially opposed the project. This government completed 351 towers of the 447 towers, he said.

The earlier towers were completed during the previous Congress-led UDF government. Out of the total 148 km line, this government completed 138 km within just over three years, Vijayan said.

The total project cost, including construction and compensation expenses, comes around Rs 1,300 crore and was completed on September 14. The State Electricity Board activated the line on September 25, 2019.

The Edamon-Kochi line passes through Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam and Ernakulam. The new line will reduce the power import via inter-state Udumalpet-Palakkad and Mysore-Arikode lines.

Kerala imports around 3000 MW from the Central pool to meet its daily power requirements.

Recently, we reported that Adani Transmission Ltd (ATL) had received a letter of intent (LOI) from REC Transmission Projects to build, own, operate and maintain a transmission project in Gujarat for a period of 35 years.

The project Lakadia Banaskantha Transco Ltd will comprise of about 360 circuit km of a 765-kilovolt direct line along with 765 kV bays at Lakadia and Banaskantha substations. It is primarily being constructed to establish a transmission system associated with long-term applications from Gujarat’s wind and solar energy zone in Radhanesda.