Less known Engineering wonder – Pykara power station

         

     Pykara power station is among the oldest hydro power station located 5350 feet above sea level.  The pykara power station is commissioned in 1932 and still is in operation,  imagine its durability…successfully nearing completion of 8 decades of power generation and marching into 9^th .   The total installed capacity is about 70 MW. 

C.P Ramaswamy Aiyar, former advocate general of Madras Presedancy, was instrumental in forcing the then British regime in India during 1920-1930’s for the implementation of this project.

 

For more information about “C.P:” please visit the URL:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._P._Ramaswami_Iyer

   Finally the British India government agreed for this project and formed a team of engineers under H. G. Howard from Electricity department of Madras presidency. The team under able leadership of H. G. Howard executed this project beyond the expectation and still stands tall as an engineering wonder. You can see a statue of H. G. Howard in the entrance of power station, who was chief architect of this marvel.

       Pykara power station is one of the main area for punishment transfers in Tamil Nadu Electricity Board. The word punishment is added mainly due to the fact that, normally no one would opt to work in this particular location  for its remote locality and lack of other facilities. Hence engineers will get forced transfer to this location for different reasons. 

       This power station was declared as a heritage site in 1997 by Government of India. The reservoir and power station on the Pykara river is located in Nilgiris district and 40 Km from Ooty in Tamil Nadu province. (Southern part of India).  During 2002-05, a renovation and modernization programme was carried out at a cost of about Rs. 21 crore.

       Plan your next vacation to this beautiful place and enjoy the hilly terrain with majestic pykara falls along with the 8 decade old power station which is still in operation to the full capacity.

A glimpse of Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer Kt. at Trichinopoly   Microhydro: Clean Power from Water