Kerala's endeavour of developing hydropower projects through private sector participation has reached an important milestone with Kerala State Electricity Board recently signing the first power purchase agreement with Viyyat Power Pvt Ltd for the 3 mw Iruttukanam hydropower project.
In 2004, Kerala entered agreements with around 11 private companies to develop small hydropower projects envisaging aggregate capacity of some 30 mw. By current thinking, Kerala is likely to see its first small private hydropower project operational within the next two years.
P. Damodaran Nair, Managing Director, Viyyat Power Pvt Ltd, said that physical work on the Irrutukanam project in Idduku district is scheduled to begin in September 2007, with completion targeted for August 2009. With the PPA now in place, the project will now move to attaining financial closure."There was some delay in signing of the PPA. Now that it is signed, our immediate objective is attaining financial closure," said Nair. The project costing Rs 15 crore will be financed on a 70:30 debt-equity ratio, without any public financing. Over the past two years, Irrutukanam project has covered much ground. The land acquisition was done in March 2005 through outright purchase from private owners. All clearances are in place.
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