Power situation is comfortable: Shobha

Shobha Karandlaje, Minister for Energy swtiching on the Sub station at Kudroli in Mangalore on Wednesday January 26, 2011. Krishna J.Palemar, district incharge minister,(third left), N.Yogish Bhat Deputy Speaker, (fopurth left), Capt Ganesh Karnik, MLC Sumanth, MD Mescom (right) and Mayor Rajini Dugganna (third right) are seen are seen. Photo: R. Eswarraj

There is enough water in the dams of hydroelectric power plants in the State to meet the demand for power during summer months, Minister for Energy Shobha Karandlaje said here on Wednesday.

Ms. Karandlaje was inaugurating two new substations in Kudroli and Nandigudda areas of the city.

The Minister said unlike the previous years, this year there was enough water in the dams to generate 45 million units of electricity.

The Government had taken steps to augment power availability and to purchase 350 MW of power from Chattisgarh would see the State through the summer, she said pointing out that 162 million units a day was the highest consumption in the history of the State. The inaugural of the new sub-stations along with the existing ones in Kankanady, Mannagudda, Kadri, and Nehru Maidan, brings the number of substations in the city up to six.

The total expenditure on sub-stations was Rs. 5.69 crore, and the cost of laying 32.5 km of 33 kV underground cables Rs. 21 crore. These cables connected one substation to another.

The Attavara substation would be ready in two months, she said.

Ms. Karandlaje said the number of sub-stations had been increased in accordance with the anticipated load in the next 10 years.

Although the initial investment was high, the returns in terms of power savings would be recovered within four or five years, she said.

A similar scheme to increase the number of substations had been planned at Savanoor, Puttur taluk.

This would benefit 18 villages around the substation, she said.

The second unit of the Bellary Thermal Power Station would be ready by this year. Power generation at the Raichur Thermal Power Station stood at 1,950 MW, she added.

Help van

The Minister said that mobile vans had been set up in Bangalore to address customers' woes. Each van would be equipped with four engineers.

The Government was considering setting up more such vans across the State starting with a few cities, she said.

District in-charge Minister J. Krishna Palemar, Deputy Speaker N. Yogish Bhat, and MLA U.T. Khader spoke.