Foundation stone for the Rs 8.5-crore cast-resin transformer plant to be set up by state-owned Kerala Electrical and Allied Engineering Company (KEL) at Edarikkod in Malappuram will be laid by industries minister PK Kunjalikkutty on January 28.
The Edarikkod unit became commercially operational in January 2010 and had sold more than 2,400 units of 100-kVA distribution transformers worth Rs 24 crore to the Kerala State Electricity Board. The company acquired the know-how to produce the new-generation cast-resin transformers recently.
These new generation transformers are being used in infrastructure projects and residential towers. They boast better efficiency and safety with higher capacity.
In addition to Edarikkod, the company has three more units at Kundara, Mamala and Olavakkod, employing over 650 people. KEL had another unit in Kasargod, which got merged with BHEL to form a joint venture BHEL EML.
At its transformer division at Mamala, it produces distribution transformers, while the structural fabrication division makes gates and shutters for irrigation projects and railway coaches, among others.
KEL had been chosen by the state government to manufacture more than 50 hanging bridges at ferries crossed by school-going children in conventional boats. The company has already manufactured and installed more than 25 of these bridges while the work on the remaining is progressing on schedule.
In Kundara unit, it manufactures brushless alternators used in lighting and air conditioning of railway coaches and special grade alternators for the Ministry of Defence while the Olavakkod unit is into fuse, LT switch gears among others.