Bengaluru, Jan 2 (DHNS): Energy Minister D K Shivakumar said on Friday that there will be no load shedding in urban areas from January 1.

Speaking to mediapersons after the inauguration of a training programme for newly-appointed Karnataka Power Transmission Company Limited (KPTCL) engineers here, he said that there will be round-the-clock power in urban areas from this year.

“There will also be 24-hour power supply to all drinking water schemes and 6-7 hour privilege power supply to all irrigation pumpsets IP sets,” he said.

The State government will purchase 1,300 mega watt (MW) of power to cater to the needs of Bengaluru. At, present there is a shortage of 1,800 MW of power.

An agreement has been inked with Damodar Valley Corporation to get 168 MW of power supply from January 1 and an additional 300 MW from April 1. Also, 700 MW of power will be supplied from the Bellary Thermal Power Station from January-end. A total of 700 MW of thermal power will be obtained from the Yeramarus thermal power plant and 221 MW from the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, the minister said.

Shivakumar said that the an additional 1,000 MW hydel power will be used for meeting the needs of people in urban areas and farmers.

Solar IP sets

The State government is also mulling over a new scheme to make all inefficient solar IP sets efficient. Around 1,000 IP sets were introduced on a pilot basis for a year in Doddaballapur in Bengaluru Rural district, Malavalli in Mandya district and Haveri. They have proved to be successful and have helped save around 40 per cent of electricity, which will help farmers in difficult times. Now, talks are on with the Centre, other departments and companies, on how to effectively implement this scheme across the State, he added.