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Thursday, Mar 08, 2007
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State turns to captive power producers

Special Correspondent

KPTCL will persuade them to generate power and supply it to the State grid

BANGALORE: As an immediate measure to tide over shortage this summer, Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. (KPTCL) is looking for support from big captive power generators (establishments with their own power generation systems) in the State.

The corporation has decided to persuade them to generate power and supply it to the State grid. Such a move is being made because KPTCL has not been able to buy power on a short-term basis owing to the countrywide shortage of power.

Meeting

Announcing this at a press conference in Bangalore on Wednesday, KPTCL Chairman and Managing Director Bharatlal Meena said that a meeting of 30 captive power producers was being convened on Friday.

They include Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd. and several steel factories that have their own generating units. Their combined capacity is about 2,500 MW.

The State, which is facing a shortage of about 15 million units (mu) to 23 mu a day, will be able to get an additional power supply of 15 mu if a majority of them agree to feed power to the State grid till May when the summer ends.

The details regarding the tariff would be discussed during the meeting, he said.

Such an experiment has been tried successfully in Pune to tide over shortage.

Interruption

Pointing out that most of these captive power generators were using their generation system only when there was interruption in supply by KPTCL, Mr. Meena said there were different strategies to tap this potential.

One was to ask these establishments to depend on their own power generation till summer is over.

At the same time, they would be asked to feed the additional power generated by them to the KPTCL grid.

Cost factor

It remains to be seen if the finances of the energy-supplying companies will further deteriorate, as power from the captive power generating units will be costlier than the State's average power procurement price.

The daily power consumption in the State has now shot up to about 133 mu from 116.3 mu in the corresponding period last year.

But the State is able to supply only 115 mu to 117 mu a day from all its generating sources.

The shortage is bound to increase as consumption is expected to reach a peak of about 140 mu this month. Such is the unprecedented increase in power consumption that the requirement in 2006-07 is expected to exceed 40,000 mu as against the projection of 38,000 million units.

Mr. Meena, who is also chairman of all the five electricity supplying companies in the State, said several other short- and long-term measures had been initiated to tackle power shortage.

Thermal power plants

The long- and medium-term measures include inviting Expression of Interest (EoI) from private players to set up three thermal power plants having a capacity of 1,000 MW each at Chamalapur near Mysore, Ghataprabha in Belgaum district and Jewargi in Gulbarga district. This is in addition to inviting EOI for supply of 2,500 MW of power on a long-term basis and 1,500 MW of power on a medium-term basis.

KPTCL is also promoting energy conservation programmes by trying to extend the use of Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) under the Bescom Efficient Lighting Programme in all towns, strict energy auditing at various levels to prevent power theft, and system improvement measures to reduce energy loss. Besides, KPTCL is trying to make the best use of the availability-based tariff system under which power consumed during non-peak hours will be charged at a lower rate.

Similarly, the "Time of the Day" metering scheme, under which high-tension industries would be charged less for power consumed during non-peak hours would be popularised, Mr. Meena said.

He appealed to people, especially commercial establishments, to desist from using power for decorative purposes and entertainment extravaganzas during summer.

Mr. Meena sought to allay fears that the State was heading for major power outages this summer.

`No need to panic'

"There is no need to panic. We can maintain the present level of power supply even if the consumption reaches 150 mu a day," he said.

The shortage will arise only during the peak hour. When it was inevitable, load shedding was being imposed only in those areas where the revenue recovery was low, he added.

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