Despite rain, load-shedding will go on as State is short of 3,600 MW: Minister

Despite good rainfall during the weekend, Karnataka continues to face acute power shortage, which means load-shedding will go on for several days.

The State government has signed an MoU with some companies to purchase 700 MW of power at Rs 5.08 per unit, but there is still a shortfall of a whopping 3,600 MW, Energy Minister D K Shivakumar told reporters here on Monday.

Karnataka needs 9,000 MW per day, but owing to various setbacks, the Energy Department can supply just around 5,600 MW. It is trying to bridge the gap of 3,600 MW by aggressively purchasing power from any available quarter, he said.

While the Udupi Power Corporation Ltd (UPCL) is supplying just 569 MW as against 1,200 MW owing to technical glitches, rains are playing truant across the State, leading to a shortfall of nearly 1,000 MW from hydel stations. Power generated by wind mills too has been affected, hitting an all-time low of 17 MW recently. But there has been slow improvement with companies supplying up to 152 MW now, Shivakumar said.

“We are purchasing power wherever possible — even if we are getting 10-20 MW,” he said. The department is trying to purchase an additional 200 MW. This apart, 400 MW is expected from Damodar Valley Corporation by the first week of January and 240 MW from Kudankulam nuclear plant by the end of this month. The department has placed requests for supply of unallocated power, the minister said.

According to him, though local bodies failed to pay dues of more than Rs 3,000 crore, the department will take up works related to supply of drinking water, provided that the panchayats pay for the power being supplied.