Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore (SP)

Bangalore, Jul 29: Energy minister K S Eshwarappa has said, that the power situation in the state has improved with the intensified monsoon. Catchment areas of several reservoires in the state have been receiving good rains, brightening the prospects of increasing power generation. In the meanwhile, because of the plummetting temperatures, power consumption has gone down. As such, the load shedding will be reviewed within a couple of days, he said.

Meanwhile, the 500 mw Bellary Thermal Power Station set up by Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd., was synchronized for commercial power generation at about 1.45 pm on Monday, July 28. KPCL technical director Muralidhar Rao commissioned the continuous operation of the plant in front of senior officials of KPCL. The work for the plant began in December 2003 and was expected to be commissioned by january 2007.

The plant started generating about 35 mw of power after synchronization and later increased to 60 mw. The generation will be increased grdually, reaching the full installed capacity of 500 mw in about 15 days, informed BTPS executive director Raghunath Rao. The coal requirements of this plant are met from Nagpur.

The plant has started power generation at a time when the state is badly in need of power.