Engineers, eco groups spar at seminar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State needs to reassess the water resources and the state of rivers before demanding and debating on more hydroelectric projects, said C G Madhusoodanan, an expert on the hydrology of Western Ghat rivers, from the River Research Centre, Thrissur.

He was speaking at a one-day seminar on the proposed Athirapally hydroelectric project organised by the Institution of Engineers, here on Saturday.

In the debate, while the KSEB engineers argued for the Athirapally project against the backdrop of projected power-shortage that the State will face, the environmentalists argued against the project in the background of the state of the river.

Having studied the hydrology and technical issues of the project, Madhusoodanan, who is both an engineer and an environmentalist, said that the basic documents on which the project is designed is flawed.

``The Chalakudy river basin has been estimated to be 1704 sq. km. when in reality it is only 1470 sq.km. The run-off calculated is also incorrect,’’ he said.

``The basic measurements such as dam length, surge shaft diameters and powerhouse sizes keeps changing with each of the detailed project reports (DPR). Some components like the energy dissipator and river training works are yet to be designed and quantified even after four DPRs,’’ he added.

Besides, the project cost that was Rs 151 crore in the first DPR, went up to Rs 275 crore in 1994 and Rs 385.63 crore in 2003. The present cost estimation based on WAPCOS (Water And Power Consultancy Services: A flagship PSU of Ministry of Water Resources, engaged in total consultancy in water resources, water supply, hydro power and allied sectors) guidelines comes up to Rs 700 crore. Further, escalation in costs in the years to come is said to make this project the most expensive, in terms of unit energy cost. KSEB assistant executive engineer R Ramesh said that with nuclear power not being feasible in a densely populated State like Kerala, there was not much of an alternative.

``The fossil fuels are likely to be depleted by 2030 and the thermal power plants cannot be operated at will. The wind energy is seasonal and unpredictable while the solar energy costs something like Rs 18 - 22 per unit,’’ he said. ``While there has been no appreciable increase to the number of consumers since December 2009, the power consumption pattern per consumer for the past three years has increased by 14 units. While Kerala has just 33 dams and that too with just a few of them with storage, all our neighbouring States have over a hundred dams,’’ said Ramesh.

One of the other main areas of contention was the maintenance of the Athirapally falls. While the KSEB engineers explained the setting up of two 1.5 MW generators in addition to the 80 MW generators will maintain the waterfall at Athirapally, the environmentalists dismissed this as a mere eyewash.

``This is one of the least efficient projects to be run by the KSEB, with just 15 percent efficiency when compared to the 80 percent efficiency of Pallivasal or 35 percent efficiency of Idukki. There is no way that they are going to generate the three MW from the smaller generators and there is no way that there will be enough water to maintain the waterfall in the summer months. They will build this dam for another 50 years and in the end will find that there will be no electricity and no water,’’ said R Sridhar, programme director of Thanal, an environmental group.

Institution of Engineers of Institute (India), Kerala State Centre chairman D Balachandran, IEI, KSC former chairman S R K Rasalam, Kerala Circle Chief Post-Master General (PMG) Shoba Koshy, IEI,KSC former chairman K G Chandrasekharan, KSEB executive engineer P Mohanan, PA Aziz College of Engineering principal P R Sreemahadevan Pillai and Chalakudy River Protection Samithi chairman S P Ravi also spoke.