New Delhi, Oct 26 (IANS): Karnataka has been recording huge power consumption for the last few months, including the unprecedented demand of more than 15,000 MW in October, Energy Minister K.J. George said here on Thursday.
George said that the demand for power in the state has shot up this year compared to last year.
In the last few years, power consumption has decreased due to the Covid-19 pandemic but the demand has been unprecedented this year. The power demand has been so high that the power consumption in August has surpassed the summer months' consumption, he added.
"Our state has a total installed capacity of 32,009 MW (26,000MW units are on offer to state utility companies), and the remaining 6,000 MW capacity is under private use. Of the 26,000 MW installed capacity, we have an estimated daily storage availability of 11,000-12,000 MW. However, the state's solar power generation is being implemented with a peak availability of around 15,000-16,000 MW during peak solar power availability. Power generation has remained the same in the last four years.
"Had the power generation level been better during the previous BJP government, the state would not have faced such a situation today. In addition, the quality of coal allocated from the Central government to the state is also not good. Along with this, due to lack of rain, this has adversely affected power generation. Power generation was doubled in our first term of government. In 2013-14, the electricity generation was 14,048 MW. It had increased to 27,780 MW by 2017-18," the Energy Ministersaid.
"Along with this, this year's monsoon has been very poor. It has led to increased power consumption across all households and farmers' irrigation pump sets, roughly translating to a 45 per cent increase in consumption. The irrigation pump sets have a lion’s share of increased power consumption. The state has witnessed a production capacity drop of 300 MU due to a lack of power generation from thermal power plants (lack of poor monsoon), solar power and wind energy (Due to poor weather conditions and lack of sunshine). Daily, we have a demand of 270-280 MU, but we are able to generate 230-240 MU and are seeing a shortage of 30-40 MU per day. Despite such shortfalls, the government is doing everything and ensuring that the energy consumption of consumers, farmers, and industries is being prioritised. Besides household power consumption, the farmers with irrigation pump sets have seen exponential power consumption to tend their crops in rural Karnataka," George stated.
"In the midst of this, the annual maintenance of the power plants has to be carried out, and despite that, we have continued to generate power and fuel the state's power consumption."
Along with this, the Energy Minister said that they have also been buying power from Punjab and Uttar Pradesh under the Energy Swapping policy to meet the energy needs of the state.
"The former Chief Minister's statements of the government creating an artificial electricity shortage are far from truth, and the government is committed to serving the people of the state and power uninterrupted despite the challenges it faces," George said.
Responding to the allegations of misrepresentation of importing coal to meet the state energy needs, the Minister replied that to fuel the nation's thermal power plants and boost power production, they import 10-20 per cent of coal and mix them with Indian coal.
"This is a universal practice by all the thermal plants in the country that are run by the Central government to boost power production. Currently, the state's thermal plants are using coal procured from different states, and the quality has not been of good," he stated.