Power-starved Karnataka, which is on the threshold of making a mammoth capacity addition of 4,000 MW to 5,000 MW to its grid in the next two years with an investment of over Rs. 30,000 crore, is facing a strange problem: the demand for power is not increasing in tune with the proposed capacity addition.
Participating in a conference on ‘Solar energy – The investment path’ organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India on Wednesday, Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission Chairman M.K. Shankaralinge Gowda said that over the last one year, the demand for power increased by a mere 5 p.c. “If the State’s economy has to grow by a healthy 8 to 10 p.c., the demand for power has to double,” he said.
Pointing out that Karnataka’s power consumption was less than its neighbours, Mr. Gowda said while the State’s daily consumption was around 200 million units (that too during summer), Tamil Nadu’s consumption was about 310 MUs and the combined consumption of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana was around 300 MUs.
Mr. Gowda told The Hindu that there was a dire need to find bulk consumers like industries for using additional power. “Presently, we are providing staggered power to villages due to power shortage and some of the isolated villages are yet to get power connection. But this will not account for high consumption. The problem is that of finding bulk consumers like industries to use the proposed additional power in two years.”
However, some of the industrialists including adviser to Assocham, Sampathraman, termed the decline in demand for power as “temporary phenomenon” arising due to global recession and impact of two consecutive droughts.
