Moolamattom: Electricity generation was stopped at Moolamattom Power Station, a major source of electricity in Kerala, after an explosion at around 7 pm on Friday. Load-shedding has been imposed in all parts of the state after the incident.

N S Pillai, Chairman of the Kerala State Electricity Board Limited (KSEB) stated that operations of all the six generators at Moolamattom were halted after the blast. “This led to a shortfall in power generation of 780 megawatts and forced us to resort to load-shedding,” he explained.

Load-shedding is likely to continue in several areas of Kerala in the coming days, the official added.

Moolamattom Power Station is the biggest underground hydro-electric project in India. It is fed by water from the Idukki Dam built across Periyar River.

At present, Idukki dam is filled to 68 per cent of its total capacity and the daily power generation was raised recently to around 13.08 million units.

The blast occurred in the isolators of generator number 4 of the underground power station. However, no casualties were reported as no employees were present near the spot.

The blast caused a damage amounting to around Rs 50 lakh, officials said after preliminary assessment.

The entire power house was immersed in smoke after the explosion. Several personnel from the Fire and Rescue Services and the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) carried out emergency measures to stop further damage.

An explosion was reported from near the sixth generator on February 1, 2020. This followed another blast a week earlier in January.