Karnataka - Bangalore   

Rs. 9 crore a day to be spent on buying power

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Announcing decisions: Minister for Energy K.S. Eshwarappa and Principal Secretary (Energy) K. Jairaj at a press conference in Bangalore on Thursday.

BANGALORE: To tide over the power shortage in the short run, the power utilities have decided to buy an additional power of 10 million units a day at the rate of Rs. 9 crore a day from November 14 to December-end.

This would enable the State to supply 115 mu a day till December.

Announcing this at a press conference in Bangalore on Thursday, Energy Minister K. S. Eshwarappa said this exercise which involves procurement of 500 MW of power would cost an additional Rs. 400 crore till December-end. Of this, Rs. 200 crore has been given by the State Government while the remaining cost would be shared by the five ESCOMs.

He expressed confidence that it would be possible to manage power supply without resorting to loadshedding with the above arrangements provided that there are no problems with any of the generating stations.

It will be inevitable to resort to unscheduled loadshedding for a temporary period if any generating units stop generation, he noted. Interestingly, the projections by the KPTCL itself has shown that the power consumption might shoot up to 120 mu a day in this month, while the ESCOMs are gearing up to supply 115 mu a day.

The Minister explained that the ESCOMs and the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited have entered into an understanding with the GMR Groups, Jindal and the Energy Exchange to procure 450 to 500 MW of power. The supply of power would start from November 14.

In addition to buying additional power, the ESCOMs have also decided to restrict the power supply to villages to only 12 hours a day.

While six hours of 3-phase power supply (during which the motors and irrigation pump sets can operate) will be supplied a day as against the normal system of eight hours, only six hours of single-phase (for domestic consumption) power would be supplied against the normal system of eight to nine hours. In all, the villages will have to go without power supply for 12 hours a day.

The Minister said a rota regarding the supply of power to villages would be announced by the ESCOMs in a day or two.

Principal Secretary (Energy) K. Jairaj explained that the power consumption had increased by 15 to 18 per cent over the last year leading to a shortage of 1,700 MW to 2,000 MW during peak hours. He said that the situation in Karnataka was better compared with the neighbouring States, which had already resorted to long hours of loadshedding.

Karnataka Power Corporation Limited Managing Director S. M. Jaamdar noted that a plan had been chalked out to add 2,500 MW of power by 2010 to overcome the power shortage.

While the two units with a capacity of 230 MW would commence generation at the Varahi hydro-electric station from December 2008, 250-MW Unit-8 of Raichur Thermal Power Station will be commissioned in September 2009 and the 500 MW unit-2 of Bellary Thermal Power Station will commence generation from November 2010. Similarly, the KPCL was planning to take up generation of wind power to the tune of 500 MW with the NTPC. For the long term, the KPCL had plans to add 5000 MW of power in the next two years.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

A Lanka trip
Book on Scouts and Guides — Malayalam to English
Realtor hacked to death
Peak-hour gridlock leaves motorists exasperated
Deposit collectors seek better terms
KSRTC to make inroads into Mangalore city
Public grievance meeting on BIA
Limbavali meets UGC, AICTE heads
Court disposes of plea by chief priest of shrine
Greater academic exchange between Kannada and Telugu proposed
Adiga donates a part of Booker prize money to his college
BBMP Health officials trapped
AFTC to receive President’s Colour on November 12
Bangalore University Ph.D. applicants in the dark over course details
Special revision of electoral rolls from November 10
Safety training
Yakshagana sammelan
Krishi Mela at UAS to showcase ten new varieties of crops
New Bt cotton variety
CPI against staggered holiday
KPA elects office-bearers
BEL units bag award
State may seek judicial remedy
Felicitation function soon
‘Institute award in Kumble’s name
Rs. 9 crore a day to be spent on buying power
4.04 per cent DA hike for State staff
Hearing on plea by Catholic sabha adjourned
High Court fiat to Government on NICE road at Gottigere
Legislature to felicitate Bhimsen Joshi
State Cabinet approves Rs. 200-crore special fund to tide over power crisis
Property tax: ‘don’t burden people’
Search panel formed
Walkers exercised over state of Sankey Tank
Police announce in loudspeakers about missing Nokia managers
A spectrum of talent on display School Notes
A cool head wins the day for NPS
Films that will surely hit you hard
Cluny Convent prepares for its diamond jubilee bash
Police use loudspeakers to announce about missing Nokia executives
Leopard pelt recovered
BDA engineer held with Rs. 20 lakh
Registration of pure breed dogs
Music festival
Boy’s body recovered one year after murder
JNU alumni accuse police of religious profiling
Two women booked for robbery
Rights panel urged to probe jail assault
In Bangalore Today

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu