Karnataka seeks more power from Central grid
To overcome power shortage in Karnataka, the State government on Tuesday requested the Centre to allocate additional power from central generating stations.
Participating at the State Energy Ministers’ conference convened by Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde here, Karnataka Energy Minister K S Eshwarappa said that due to uneven monsoon, the gap between demand and supply varied between 15 to 20 per cent, leading to increasing peak hour shortage in the State.
Though the State was getting 1,543 MW daily from central generating stations, it was less, compared to neighbouring states’ share. Eshwarappa also demanded the Centre to restore 50 MW of power of Karnataka’s share from the Central grid which was stopped recently.
The minister also demanded the Centre to allocate coal blocks for the proposed thermal power projects in Karnataka, including NTPC’s mega project at Kudgi in Bijapur district. He requested the Centre to set up a 2,000 MW Greenfield nuclear power project in the State, apart from adding 1,400 MW to Nuclear Power Plant at Kaiga.
He said the State government has spend Rs 3,000 crore to buy power this year from private producers.
