Capacity : 3x5 MW
The Barapole Small Hydro Electric Project is situated in Ayyankunnu grama Panchayath part of Iritty Taluk. It is about 68 km far from the nearest railway station Kannur. The project area lies in 12° 05' 00"N latitude and 75° 47′ 30″E longitudes. The right bank of the river Barapole at weir site is Brahmagiri Reserve Forest of Karnataka while its left bank is thinly populated private land of Kerala.
Barapole Small Hydro Electric Project is the first power project in Kannur district. This Hydro Electric Project is the first power project of Kerala State Electricity Board in which trench weir technology is introduced to divert the river flow. This type of intake arrangement is usually provided in rivers of steep course. In the case of Barapole scheme the trench intake was only possible so as to avoid the submergence of forest land in the adjacent Brahmagiri Wild Life Sanctuary.Installed capacity of the project is 15MW and its annual energy generation is 36MU.
The water conducting system includes trench weir, intake pool, canal, forebay tank, and penstock pipes. The length of canal is 2900m. The water from the forebay tank to the powerhouse is led through 100m long three separate steel penstock pipes of 210 cm internal diameter and 10 mm thickness.
The project is inaugurated in 2016.Since,the annual generation capacity as per design is 36 MU, in the year 2021-22, the generation was 49.83 MU which is 13.83 MU more than the design, which is ever highest. In the year 2022-23, the generation was 43.27 MU. The total generation from the project is 204.639 MU as on 11.07.2023.
Salient Features:
Location with district : Palathinkadavu / Kannur
Category : Small Hydro Electric Project
Capacity : 15 MW
River : Barapole River
Dam : Nil
Annual Energy Potential : 36MU
Reservoir :
Catchment Area : 260 Sq. K.M
Gross Storage : 4665 cumecs ( live storage capacity)
Generation per MCM : 0.12 MU
Design Head : 50 Mtrs.
Full Reservoir level (FRL) : +117.81 m
Min. Draw Down Level (MDDL) :+ 106.96 m.
Design Disch. through Machine : 38.85 cumecs
Date of Commissioning:
Unit – 1 : 29-02-2016
Unit – 2 : 29-02-2016
Unit – 3 : 29-02-2016
Technical:
1. TURBINE
a) Type : Horizontal francis Turbine
b) Make : Kirloskar Brothers Ltd
c) Design Net Head : 50 Mtrs.
d) Rated Output : 5MW
e) Output Max./ Min : 5.5 MW/ MW
f) Normal Speed : 500 RPM
g) Runway speed : 720 RPM
h) Disc. Through Machine :11.3 m3 /sec (Rated Discharge)
2. GENERATOR
a) Type : Synchronous
b) Make : WEG
c) Rated Voltage : 11000 V
d) Rated Out put : 5556.0 KVA
f) Speed : 500 RPM
g) Power Factor : 0.9 lag
3. GENERATOR TRANSFORMERS
a) Type : Delta-Star
b) Make : VOLTAMP, Vadodara
c) Rated Voltage : 33000V/11000V
d) Rated Out put : 8000KVA
4. Power Evacuation
a) 3BPIR Feeder 1 ( 33 kV Barapole-Iritty)
b) 3BPIR Feeder 2 ( 33 kV Barapole-Iritty)
c) Kacherikadavu Feeder (11KV-Local Distribution Feeder)
d) Solar Feeder 1 (11KV)
e) Solar Feeder 2 (11KV)