Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore (SP)

Bangalore, Mar 3: Within days of an announcement made by state energy minister K S Eshwarappa that the government would ensure that the state is not bothered by power problems even during the summer months, the quantum of unscheduled load shedding has soared, after two units of the Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS) stopped functioning on the night of Saturday last.

Because of technical problems, the first and third units of RTPS had to be shut down from Saturday night, for undertaking repairs. The state therefore, is faced with a huge deficit of about 300 mega watts of power, leaving the government with no other option but to enforce load shedding. It is also gathered, that the Chattisgarh government, with whom the state has entered into a power purchase agreement, has stopped supplying power since a few weeks, because of the increased demand for power there, caused by the worsening summer.

Because of the fact that storage levels in hydro power generation plants are low, there is no possibility of augmenting power generation there. At the same time, the Raichur units are facing frequent break downs as they have become old. As such, rural places have been hard hit and some villages do not get power for even a few hours every day.

A senior official in the energy ministry hoped, that the two generator units in Raichur, which are being repaired, will start generating power by Tuesday March 3, paving way for an improvement in the power situation.