A former senior official from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) is set to accompany a technical team from the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) on an important trip to China. Their mission: to act as an independent technical expert, overseeing the inspection and testing of a delayed shipment of equipment vital for the Bhoothathankettu small hydro project.
This decision was made by the KSEB management, appointing Prabhat Kureel, formerly a principal chief engineer with the CEA, to join the three-member KSEB delegation. The team will be led by Sajeev G., who is the director-in-charge of Generation (Electrical and Civil).
The commissioning of the 24-megawatt (MW) project has been significantly held up due to a protracted disagreement with Chinese suppliers concerning the third and final batch of electromechanical components. In July, the KSEB management had already resolved to dispatch a technical team to thoroughly examine the equipment and supervise its testing.
The initial contract, valued at ₹81.80 crore, was signed in March 2015 between KSEB and a consortium comprising Sree Saravana Engineering Bhavani Ltd (SSEB) from Tamil Nadu and China’s Hunan Zhaoyang Generation Equipment Company Ltd. The original terms stipulated that the project should have been finalized by August 2016.
Given the extensive delays, KSEB served a termination notice to the consortium in April 2025. However, the Tamil Nadu-based company challenged this decision in the Kerala High Court. Despite the legal action, KSEB opted to conduct a final meeting with the consortium, having already invested a substantial ₹169 crore in the civil and electromechanical phases of the project.
During this period, KSEB learned that Hunan Zhaoyang Generation Equipment Company Ltd had declared bankruptcy and subsequently sold the equipment to another firm, Changsha Xingyue. This development led the Tamil Nadu firm to establish a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with both Chinese entities.
Following several rounds of negotiations, the Chinese supplier ultimately agreed to proceed with the equipment’s dispatch. This agreement was contingent upon the condition that KSEB engineers would be allowed to carry out the necessary inspections.