After achieving the status of world’s first airport fully powered by solar energy, Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) ventured into hydro power production as its first power plant, commissioned by Hon.Chief Minister Shri.Pinarayi Vijayan on 06 th November 2021 started working. CIAL is now  able to start power production from the 4.5 MWp hydro power plant set up at Arippara near Kozhikode within 5 years commencing the civil work. The civil work had started only in 2016. The 4.5 MWp run off the river small hydro project (SHP) was awarded to CIAL by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) as per the Kerala Small Hydro power policy-2012 under Built-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) for a lease period of 30 years. CIAL started the construction work of a weir across Iruvazhinji River and hydro-mechanic systems at Arippara, near Kodenchery in Kozhikode district started in January 2016. Even after being inundated by two major floods, faced by litigation in court and affected by the pandemic, CIAL completed the project in September 2021 and trail run has started in October. CIAL purchased five acres of land from 32 local residents. The total project is Rs.52 Cr. The powerhouse will generate around 1.08 lakhs unit of power a day when the stream is active and it is estimated that the plant could be operational in full capacity for 130 days in a year. Arippara hydroelectric project by CIAL is considered as biggest project after achieving power neutrality of the Airport in 2015. 

 

“ The determination of the Hon. Chief Minister Shri.Pinarayi Vijayan, who is also the Chairman of CIAL turns out to be decisive to bucks up the project implementation. This  project triggered up a movement to set up such hydro projects across the state which has 44 rivers and numerous streams” : said Shri. S. Suhas IAS, Managing Director, CIAL. The involvement of Shri.V.J.Kurian, former Managing Director was another significant factor for the timely completion of the project. “ ..The potential of renewable energy is immense. If we use our technological imagination, we can work together to harness the light of the Sun, the power of the wind, and the strength of rushing streams, to eliminate waste and to be more productive and more efficient in the ways we use energy, we can create a better future’’ : added Sri. Suhas.

 

Being a runoff the river project, CIAL SHP at Arippara works on limited storage of water causes no adverse effect on the environment. The Scheme envisages the construction of an overflow type weir across the river, which diverts the water to an intake pool from where the intake structure and connected water conductor system (WCS) starts. A Surge tank is constructed to moderate the water flow during load acceptance and load rejection time. A penstock commencing from the the surge tank feeds two machines of 2.25MW capacity. A surface powerhouse, with a horizontal Francis Turbine, is installed at the right bank of the river with an installed capacity of 4.5MW (2x2.25 MW) anticipating 10 % overload. Being a project with the majority of civil works to be done along the river banks, the works were severely affected during the two devastating floods of 2018 & 2019. After the two unprecedented floods, a lot of additional precautions had to be taken by modifying the designs and also by introducing additional retaining structures to ensure safe working conditions for the laborers. M/s Hydrotech Consultants, Trivandrum was appointed as the Detailed Engineering Consultant for the project and M/s KITCO Ltd was appointed as PMC for civil works. PMC for the Hydro-mechanical and Electro-mechanical works were done directly by CIAL Infrastructures Ltd. The Arippara SHEP is located in Iruvanjipuzha of the Chaliyar basin. The site is lies in Nellipoyil Village near Kodenchery in Kozhikode District at a distance of 45 km from Kozhikode City.