Cochin International Airport Ltd’s (CIAL) first hydropower plant will be commissioned by CM Pinarayi Vijayan on November 6.
An annual power generation of 14 mn units is estimated through the plant constructed at Arippara near Kozhikode.
Power from the plant will be fed to the KSEB grid from November first week.
The 4.5 MWp run off the river small hydro project was awarded to CIAL by Power Department.
It’s for a lease period of 30 years under Built-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT). The total project cost is Rs 52 crore.
The plant will generate around 1.08 lakh units of power a day during peak flow days.
“Arippara hydroelectric project is considered as CIAL’s biggest project after achieving power neutrality of the Airport in 2015,” said S.Suhas, MD, CIAL.
Cochin airport achieved the status of the world’s first airport fully powered by solar energy in 2015.
“Being a run of the river project, CIAL’s small hydropower project works on limited storage of water. It won’t cause an adverse effect on the environment,” Suhas said.
