The Hindu : Karnataka / Mangalore News : State facing power shortage of 2250 MW

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 18, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mangalore

State facing power shortage of 2250 MW

By Our Staff Correspondent

MANGALORE, AUG. 17. Karnataka lagged behind in power generation, which hampered development of the State, K.S. Balachandran, project head (Technical), Nagarjuna Power Corporation Ltd., said here on Monday.

Mr. Balachandran, who delivered a talk on "Power and development" under the aegis of the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), said Karnataka was short of 2,250 MW at present. If the State aspired to progress, it had to plan for generating 25 per cent more power, he said. At present, the State could meet only 60 per cent of the power needs of its industries. And to arrive at a reasonably comfortable position, the State would have to invest at least Rs. 25,000 crore in the next five years, he said.

Examining various other modes of power generation, including hydel projects, which were highly dependent on the monsoons, and the oil and naptha-based power generation, which had fluctuating markets, he said these were not suitable to Indian conditions. While the thermal power projects appeared to be viable as coal was available for the asking, he said imported coal was the best bet for the thermal power projects.

He said imported coal had less sulphur contents and generated less fly ash.

Mr. Balachandran said the Nagarjuna Power Project for which clearances had been secured well before the commencement of the work, would be funded by the Power Finance Corporation. All the final agreements would be in place by October 2004 and the project would be ready for commissioning in 2008-09. Since coal was cheaper than oil, naptha and gas, the company would be in a position to offer a unit of power to the consumer at Rs. 2.10 in 2008-09.

Allaying the fears of the environmental degradation Mr. Balakrishna said the company would employ state-of-the-art technology for handling fly ash. Dry fly ash would be stored in dry conditions.

The plant would use only seawater for all its operations and would have a dedicated de-salination plant to meet its sweet water requirements.

The KCCI president, R.D. Kini, welcomed the gathering.

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