KOCHI: The long-idle naphtha-based power plant at Kayamkulam could get a new lease of life with the commissioning of the proposed Kochi-Kanyakumari-Thoothukudi natural gas pipeline, Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Suresh Gopi said on Tuesday.
The pipeline will provide an opportunity to utilise the Kayamkulam power plant during periods of peak demand, helping balance the power grid and reduce dependence on costly peak-power purchases, wherever economically viable, Gopi told TNIE.
He said the project would also create a long-term energy infrastructure backbone for southern Kerala, strengthening the region's energy security. The minister was responding to TNIE following the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) board's approval of a Rs 2,448.70-crore project to lay a 424.65-km pipeline connecting Kochi with Kanyakumari and Thoothukudi.
The project follows authorisation by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) earlier this year, with IOC emerging as the successful bidder through a competitive process to build, operate and expand the Kochi-Kanyakumari-Thoothukudi Natural Gas Pipeline. The pipeline, with a designed capacity of 6.84 million metric standard cubic metres per day (MMSCMD), will transport regasified LNG from the Kochi terminal to demand centres across southern Kerala and southern Tamil Nadu.
Asked about the benefits for Kerala, Gopi said direct pipeline connectivity would ensure a more reliable and continuous gas supply to southern Kerala, reducing dependence on LNG transported by road. It would also facilitate the expansion of City Gas Distribution (CGD) networks, including piped natural gas (PNG) for households and compressed natural gas (CNG) for vehicles. This, he said, would enable households, transport operators, commercial establishments and industries to shift to cleaner fuels.
The pipeline could also benefit industries that currently depend on naphtha, furnace oil, diesel, LPG and other conventional fuels. Such units could explore a shift to natural gas, which has lower local emissions and a cleaner combustion profile and is easier to handle and store than liquid fuels, the minister said.
The proposed pipeline assumes significance for the Kayamkulam power project, which has remained idle for years because of the high cost of the fuel used by the plant.
The 359-MW Rajiv Gandhi Combined Cycle Power Project of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) at Kayamkulam was originally designed to run on naphtha. The Kerala State Electricity Board stopped purchasing power from the plant in 2017 as its generation cost was around Rs 15 per unit, making it commercially unviable. NTPC subsequently stopped generation at the plant.
With a pipeline bringing natural gas closer to Kayamkulam, the plant could potentially be considered for operation during periods of peak power demand, subject to the economics of gas-based generation, grid requirements and the plant's technical readiness.
Officials said the pipeline, once operational, would strengthen the natural gas ecosystem in southern India, facilitate cleaner industrial fuel use, and give Kerala's power sector greater flexibility during demand spikes.
