The city’s technology and manufacturing hubs as well as shopping malls are unlikely to face any power shortage in the summer with the energy department taking steps to conserve hydel and coal resources right away. The electricity demand will increase from February onwards.
Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy reviewed the power supply situation in Bengaluru and summer preparedness last week. “We have never resorted to load-shedding in Bengaluru. In summer too, we will continue to give 24-hour power supply,” the CM had told ET in a recent chat.
The government is using solar and wind sources as much as available, and saving on coal and hydel capacity to meet the summer demand, additional chief secretary (energy department) P Ravikumar told ET, on Wednesday, on the sidelines of a media workshop on solar energy organised by the Selco Foundation.
The Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS) and Bellary Thermal Power Station (BTPS) have a stock of 3 lakh and 1.5 lakh tonnes of coal, respectively, which can meet 15 days of their fuel requirements. Yaramaras station is sitting on 43,000 tonnes of coal stock which can meet10 days of its fuel need. In Udupi Power station too, KPTCL is drawing power from only one unit, and other thermal stations are operating far below their load factor in preparation for the summer demand.
The state is, at the moment, getting 4,700 MW of solar and about 729 MW of wind power. The electricity supply companies (Escoms) could actually draw 42 million units (MUs) of power a day from hydel sources, but are drawing far below — 35 MUs on Tuesday, for instance — to conserve hydel power for summer, Ravikumar said.
