KEL to set up new transformer plant in Malappuram

Kochi: The State-owned Kerala Electrical and Allied Engineering Company (KEL) is setting up a cast-resin transformer plant near its Edarikkod unit in Malappuram.

The foundation stone for the Rs 8.5-crore plant will be laid by the State Industries Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty on January 28. The State Electricity Minister Aryadan Mohammed will unveil the prototype of a cast-resin transformer on the occasion.

K. Shamsuddin, Managing Director, KEL, said the diversification plan would help the company to produce cast-resin transformers of three lakh kVA capacity. These new generation transformers are widely used in new infrastructure projects and residential towers as they comply with the latest norms and stipulations prevailing in the industry, he said.

KEL's Edarikkod unit was commercially operational since January 2010 and had already sold more than 2,400 units of 100-kVA distribution transformers worth Rs 24 crore to KSEB.

The company acquired the know-how and permission to produce the new-generation cast-resin transformers recently, which has been a technical innovation delivering more efficiency and safety with higher capacity.

He said that with its expertise in producing distribution transformers and nation-wide marketing reach spanning over 25 years, the diversification project of KEL is expected to take the PSU to greater heights.

KEL, operational since 1964, has been in the list of companies with an annual turnover of more than Rs 100 crore for the last many years. In addition to Edarikkod, the company has three more units at Kundara, Mamala and Olavakkod.

The Mamala unit produces distribution transformers, while the structural fabrication division makes gates and shutters required by irrigation projects and railway coaches, hanging bridges and other steel fabrication products.

The State Government has already been sanctioned another diversification and renovation of Mamala unit at a cost of Rs 12.5 crore, mainly to produce power transformers up to 10 MVA capacities, he added.

The Kundara unit manufactures brushless alternators used in lighting and air-conditioning of railway coaches and special grade alternators for the Ministry of Defence while its Olavakkod unit is into fuse units, LT switch gears and HRC fuses required by SEBs.