Image of an electric power grid.
Credit: DH File Photo
Anticipating a power shortage during the summer and the demand rising to 16,500 MW, the Energy department has started making the necessary preparations, well in advance, to meet any expected rise in the demand.
Addressing a press conference, in Bengaluru on Tuesday, Energy Minister, K J George, said that the state currently has a demand for 14,000 MW. He added that there has been no problem in meeting the demand for the last 40 days and there shall be no problem catching up with the demand till the end of January.
The officials in the department have already chalked out measures to meet the demand by tapping into the power from other states, importing coal and blending it with the native resources to generate power.
Green corridor
George also said the state has planned to take up a Green Energy corridor proposal to create transmission infrastructure to facilitate bulk power transmission for Green- Hydrogen related Renewable Energy (RE) projects. At a press briefing, George said: “This year, we had poor rainfall and less wind movement which scaled down power generation. This apart, there was excess rainfall in the coal mines which affected the supply of dry coal for power generation.”
7-hr supply to IP sets
George noted that the government has restored the seven-hour power supply to irrigation pumpsets and feeders by various means.
To meet the expected rise in the demand, the energy department is planning to procure power from the energy market and Himachal Pradesh. “About 300 MW power will be procured from Punjab and 100 to 600 MW will be obtained from Uttar Pradesh – both in barter system,” George said.
The state is looking at increasing the thermal generation, with generation through KPCL thermal stations being increased to 3,500 MW. The state will also resume receiving 150 MW power from Kudgi Super Thermal Power Station, located at Kudgi village of Basavana Bagewadi taluk in Vijayapura district, which was earlier lent to
Delhi.
Centre’s grid
The state has requested the central government to provide energy from the Centre’s grid. “The necessary documents have been given by officials of the energy department and we are expecting to receive 600 MW,” said an official from the department.
The department will import 2.5 lakh tonnes of coal from other countries, presumably Indonesia. The imported coal will be used to blend with the domestic coal and scale up power generation.
The department will take up captive coal mines under private/joint ventures at Godna in Chhattisgarh. It is also planning to take up a 200 MW pumped storage generation project at Sharavathi. The hybrid capacity (wind, solar, and storage) of 1,100 MW has been availed, the minister said.