May buy power from Jan to meet demand
Power-starved Karnataka, which bought Rs 3,000 crore worth of power from private producers and neighbouring states to meet the shortage in 2008-09, has been able to weather the crisis this fiscal thanks to bountiful rains and excess generation of hydel power. The state has not purchased power from outside this fiscal.
The state has been able to improve the overall power situation through some short-term measures. It has drawn up a plan to increase power generation four-fold in the next 10 years. As against the present 6,800 Mw of power generation, the state aims to add around 25,000 Mw in the next decade.
Even as the industrial and commercial users have opposed the government move to impose load shedding and unscheduled power cuts in the rural and semi-urban areas, the government managed to supply power for 23 hours in Bangalore and 20 hours in other urban centres.
All three hydel stations — Linganamakki, Mani and Supa — have filled up to 100 per cent, 65 per cent and 79 per cent of their capacity respectively. As a result, the power availability has gone up 23 per cent to 5,801 million units as on December 29, 2009, compared with the same day last year. The daily power availability from all sources as on the day has touched 118 million units. This is expected to go up to 130-135 million units in January and reach 145 million units by March 2010 on the back of increased demand in summer season.
At present, the state is witnessing a restricted demand for 8,960 Mw. However, only 5,600 Mw is available from its own stations, a shortfall of 3,260 Mw, according to government sources.
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“As against the requirement of around 8,960 Mw, we are generating around 5,700 Mw and the demand is rising 15-20 per cent annually. Our aim is to become self-reliant in three years,” KS Eshwarappa, minister for energy, said.
The state has taken short-term and long-term measures to improve the situation. Short- term measures include load management to distribute power to the consumers, appointment of superintending engineers (electrical) as nodal officers to each district, providing operation protocol for opening feeders under emergencies and daily monitoring of power distribution at government level by electricity supply companies’ monitoring cell.
As a long-term measure, the state aims to generate 25,140 Mw in 10 years, over four times compared with the available capacity. This includes the 4,000- Mw ultra mega power project by National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) at Kudligi in Bijapur district, 7,900 Mw gas-based power project at four places along the proposed Dabhol-Bangalore gas pipeline. Besides, the state has tied up with Chhattisgarh to set up 1,600 Mw pit-head thermal plant, 1,600 Mw plant at Yeramaras and 800 Mw at Yedlapur in Raichur district by BHEL and KPCL, 1,320 Mw each projects at Gulbarga and Ghataprabha by private firms.
The Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd has proposed to set up a 2,100-Mw gas-based project at Tadadi in Uttara Kannada district and a second unit of 500 Mw at Bellary. The state also plans to develop 4,000 Mw renewable energy projects over five years. These include 2,969 Mw wind projects, 600 Mw mini hydel projects, 300 Mw bio-mass projects, 281 Mw cogeneration units and 50 Mw from waste to energy projects.
KPCL also has a big task of modernising its ageing thermal power station at Raichur, where six units are frequently tripping due to worn out machinery and they need overhaul. At this moment, the corporation is unable to shut more than one unit at a time for refurbishing.