Successful bids for the ambitious BOOT-basis small hydel project (SHEP) scheme promoted by the Energy Management Centre, Kerala, (EMC), will be announced by this month-end.
The bids are to be opened on November 26, as per a revised schedule.
According to the new deadline, proposals can be submitted up to November 25, EMC officials said. EMC had set November 15 as the cut-off date for placing proposals and November 16 for opening the bids.
The deadlines have been extended by 10 days on the request of bidders, EMC director K M Dhareshan Unnithan said.
“We have received around 35 bids so far for 62 SHEPs available under the scheme. The biggest SHEP in the list is a 21-MW one,” he said. Successful bidders can build, own, operate and then transfer (BOOT) the project after the stipulated period. SHEPs - hydel projects up to 25 MW are listed in this class - assume significance against the backdrop of the unofficial ‘ban’ on big hydel projects in the state due to environmental concerns.
Owing to green worries, several of the hydel projects now under development by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) also are SHEPs.
In fact, the 62 projects now available were originally pinpointed by KSEB for development.
“There is a huge potential for panchayats to step into the SHEP sector. They can develop such schemes locally on a cost-sharing basis with the government and interested groups in their locality,” Dhareshan Unnithan said.
The recently published Kerala Perspective Plan 2030 of the State Planning Board also underscores the need for such schemes at the gram panchayat level to supplement the KSEB-centred supply of electricity in the state.
Majority of the SHEPs in the EMC’s BOOT scheme are run-of-the-river projects and are located in Idukki, Ernakulam and the districts further north.
The total capacity of the schemes on offer comes to around 160 MW.
It is estimated that Kerala has a small hydro potential of 700 MW.
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