Frequent power cuts in both rural and urban areas will continue for some days in the State. This is due to disruption in the supply of coal to thermal power plants in Raichur and Bellary and reduced power supply to the State from the central grid, Minister for Energy Shobha Karandlaje has said.
With a shortfall of 1,500 MW a day, the Government will soon announce load-shedding schedules.
Addressing presspersons here on Monday, Ms. Karandlaje said that the movement of coal by rail from Singareni and Nagpur had been disrupted following the agitation in Telangana. The shortage in coal supply had reduced power generation at the Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS) units. “We have stock of 1.8 lakh tonnes of coal and it is sufficient for five units to generate power for 12 days.” She said that power supply from the central power grid, mainly from Ramagundam in Andhra Pradesh, too had been affected. Instead of 1,500 MW, the State used to get 1,200 MW. But now it was getting only about 900 MW.
Stating that tenders would be called to purchase 500 MW, she said that tenders had already been called to buy 300 MW a day to meet peak-hour demand in October and November.
She said that a second unit of the Bellary power plant (500 MW) would become operational in February 2012. The State would get 1,000 MW from the Udupi power plant by April 2012. About 300 MW of non-conventional energy would be added to the State grid by March 2012.
As many as 292 engineers would be recruited to Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd., she added.
