IV to Meenvallom Small Hydro Plant

IV to Meenvallom Small Hydro Plant

The students of the 3rd-year Electronics and Communication department visited the Palakkad Small Hydro Co. Ltd at Meenvallom under the supervision of their class advisor Mrs. Vijitha Khan. Palakkad Small Hydro plant is a small-scale hydroelectric power generation plant which mainly focuses on carrying out this project without impacting the environment. Instead of a big dam, there is a 60 m long and 6 m high barrage. The water from the flowing river is brought down via a penstock to turn the blades of the turbine to generate power. The water is then fed back to the river. Two synchronous generators of one and a half megawatt are made used to get a constant power supply for 365 days. If these two machines are run at full load we obtain 3000 W. So there is 72000 W power generated per day in the rainy season and around 2500 W per day in the summer season. A penstock of length 600 m is used with 11 bents. All the bents are well concreted. Bearings are made used to prevent the wear and tear of the shaft. Also, necessary lubrications are provided to prevent friction and the smooth functioning of the machines. Our guide gave us a brief explanation of the machinery and the working principles. After visiting the Meenvallom waterfalls, we headed back.