KOCHI: Finance Minister Dr. Thomas Isaac has helped to trigger a transparent and logical debate on Athirappally and other power projects with a Facebook post saying that replacing the existing CFL bulbs in Kerala with LED bulbs will be able to save more power than the projected installed capacity of the proposed Athirappally hydro electric power project. The primary importance of the Facebook post by Dr. Isaac is that it provides a good opening for a rational discussion about the financials of the power project. Secondly, it would also help to wean away the discussion on Athirappally from the limited perspective of good or bad ecology.
The post going viral with over 40,000 likes and over 1,000 shares in three days is a clear indication of the immense public interest in the issue despite the fact that much of the content in the post of Dr. Isaac is already in the public domain. Certainly, Dr. Isaac deserves credit for flagging such out of the box ideas into the realm of policy making.
The arithmetic worked out by Dr. Isaac is simple. The state is currently having 4.5 cr electric bulbs and 90 per cent of them belongs to CFL category. A 40-watt CFL bulb consumes 15-watt energy while LED of the same uses only 9-watt. If we replace these 4.5 cr bulbs with LED it would result in an energy saving 265 MW compared with the projected installed capacity of 165-170 MW of Athirapally project. The total cost for the CFL replacement will be Rs 250 cr while the Athirappally project would be in the range of Rs 1,500 cr.
Even the most die-hard supporters of Athirappally would find it difficult to refute the economic rationale put forward by Dr. Isaac. Another benefit of the LED replacement is the time factor. The most optimistic projection says Athirappally would take a minimum of four years. But even cursory glance of the history of hydro electric projects in the state would reveal that the four-year time frame for completion of Athirappally project is a big joke as the normal gestation of period for completion of a hydro electric is over 10-15 years or more.
KR Unnithan, a former KSEB engineer and a staunch votary of Athirappally hydel project, welcomed the suggestion of Dr. Isaac. “The conversion to LED is a wonderful idea, I myself had written articles extolling the power of LED bulbs to save energy. It reduces peak load, does virtually no harm to the environment, and has a longer lifespan”, he said. “But this does not mean that the state should shy away from building big but environmentally safe projects like Athirappally. For the short term, of course Isaac’s argument is sound. But in the long term, we need projects like Athirappally”, he insisted.
According to Mr. Unnithan after 15 years of its commissioning the cost of running the project will virtually come down to zero. And the project will sustain, providing power to the state, for 70-80 years at the minimum. In fact, it is for the future that we will have to plan. Our domestic consumption, especially peak load, is soaring like in no other state in the country. We also want industrial production to pick up in the state and for that too we need reliable but safe internal generation. LED saves energy but at best it could only be a stop-gap arrangement, he said.
The argument for Athirappally citing the long-term energy security of the state is fallacious, according to green activists. The present condition of the major hydro electric power projects in the state would prove that most of them are incapable of providing the much promised energy security for the simple reason that they are able to generate much of the installed capacity only in the monsoon season period.
According to N.S. Alexander, a Thiruvananthapuram-based RTI activist and former deputy director of drug control, the craving for projects like Athirappally is mainly driven by the scope for corruption and graft. Corruption starts from felling of trees in the project area to awarding of construction contracts, he said. “Such projects offer scope for kickback running into several crores of rupees and people looking for corruption-free society should question the logic behind such ecological and economical monstrosities”, he added.
