Page 264 - economic review

INFRASTRUCTURE236

Corporatisation of KSEBL

5.85 In order to comply with the provisions of Electricity Act 2003 and the Government of India
directives, the Kerala Government notified a transfer scheme vide GO (M.S) No.37/2008/PD dated,
25.9.2008 through which all assets and liabilities of KSEB were vested with the State Government.
The assets and liabilities were revested with fully owned government company, KSEB Limited under
the Indian Companies Act, 1956 on 14th January 2011.

5.86 Government holds the entire shares of the Company and the members of the Board are
appointed as Directors of the Company. On 31.10.2013, Govt. have notified the second transfer
scheme of re-vesting the functions, assets and liabilities vested with Government to KSEB Limited.
It started functioning as an independent company since then.

Generation

5.87 The history of Hydro Power development in Kerala begins with the commissioning of Pallivasal
Hydro Electric Project in 1940. Next few decades reflected the progressive developments of various
hydroelectric schemes implemented in the State. Sabarigiri in 1966 and Idukki in 1976 are milestones
of power development in Kerala. The achievement in generation sector is not up to the level expected.

5.88 The present peak demand of the state is about 3450 MW to 3600 MW and the average daily
energy requirement is about 60.3 Million units per day. The electricity demand of the state is met
through generation from KSEB, Central Generating Stations (CGS), Independent Power Producers
(IPPs) and Traders. Generation from KSEB’s own hydel plants provide 48% of the peak demand and
33% (7164 MU) of the total energy requirement. Import from CGS provides 35% of peak demand and
45% (9762 MU) of total requirement. The balance energy requirement is met by purchasing power
through Traders 20% (4366MU) and IPPs 2% (415MU). Power generation during 2013-14 shows a
record increase of 54% ie from 5333.4 MU in 2012-13 to 8218 MU in 2013-14. As per the 18thEPS
report peak demand requirement projected for 2014-15 is 4157 MW and the projected annual energy
requirement during the year is 23354 MU.

5.89 Under the purview of KSEB, 14 hydel projects are in the pipeline. The details of the project can
be seen in Appendix 5.27

Augmenting Generation Capacity:

5.90 The State need to be geared up to meet this huge growth in the electricity demand. However,
the options available before the state for this are rather limited. The only natural resource available
in Kerala for conventional power generation is hydro, the development of which is hampered by
variety of reasons. Though we need to continue our thrust in developing the already identified major/
medium hydro projects, not much positive results are to be expected in this front. As there are
no deposits of fossil fuels such as coal, lignite or natural gas within the state, the option left is to
transport the same from indigenous sources or to look for imports. Even if the availability is assured
somehow, development of a coal project has to clear two major hurdles viz. large land requirement
and opposition from the people citing polluting nature of the project. Though nuclear energy is
another option that can be explored in view of the large Thorium deposits in the State, considering
the opposition prevailing in the State against atomic energy, this option is also a distant possibility.

5.91 It is clear from the above that the immediate requirement of Kerala as far as power generation
is concerned is to develop a few major thermal projects to act as base load stations to meet a major
chunk of the increasing demand and to ensure energy security. The options to be explored in this

Kerala State Planning Board