Plagued by power cuts hitting the state with a will, the Karnataka government has come up with a new buying plan, after resorting to buying expensive power from private power producers like GMR, Jindal among others. It shall now revise the power purchase price from sugar mills which have co-generation units.
As many as 19 of the 52 sugar mills in the state have a combined capacity to produce 412 Mw power, of which 266 Mw is available for export. The state government, which is currently buying power for Rs 2.80-3.86 per unit from sugar mills, is likely to raise the price to make it on par with other private power producers, which is in excess of Rs 8 per unit.
“Tomorrow, we are going before the state cabinet to discuss the needs of sugar mills, to come out with a clear policy and workout the modalities for buying power from them,” he added.
To overcome the power crisis in the state, the government is planning to buy power from private power producers also. “In addition to the co-generation sugar mills, we are buying power from private producers. We expect to buy 470 Mw at Rs 8.80 per unit,” said Eswarappa.
The companies which have come forward to supply power are GMR Energy (200 Mw from Tannir Bhavi, 70 Mw from Jindal and the balance being bought as barter from northern states like Punjab and Haryana, he added.
In a barter system, Karnataka supplies power to Punjab during monsoon, when the power demand is low in the state. In turn, Punjab has to supply power to Karnataka during summer.
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The state cabinet sanctioned Rs 400 crore to buy power from private producers a few weeks ago to tide over the power crisis. As a long-term measure, the government is negotiating with the Centre for early clearance to set up Rs 20,000 crore 4,000 Mw ultra mega power projects (UMPP) at Kodige in Bijapur district.
Eswarappa said, “Kodige in Bijapur is the final site and it has been approved by the team of Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and Power Finance Corporation (PFC) officials who visited the area in September where availability of land and water was no issue. Now work is on as to how to move coal from port to the site.
“For the movement of coal, the Railways, on inspection, has suggested two routes — Krishnapatnam-Bijapur and Goa-Bijapur,” he added.
In addition to the UMPP, the state is also in talks with National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to set up 2,000 Mw plant in Bijapur for an investment of Rs 10,000 crore. Karnataka government and the NTPC will float a 50:50 joint venture for this.