BENGALURU: After experiencing a power crisis in Karnataka for the last two months, the state is now facing a hand-to-mouth situation while balancing power demand and supply. Officials caution that the situation could worsen in the coming days while appealing to people to conserve power and make the most of the Gruha Jyothi scheme, which means limiting their power consumption to remain eligible for the scheme.
After Section 11 of the Karnataka Electricity Act — permitting the government to direct power generators to prioritize power supply for specific sectors — was invoked, the state government has been purchasing power.
According to data from the energy department, the state has purchased power at Rs 6.66 per unit and sold power at Rs 4.16 per unit. Until December 13, 2023, the state has purchased 1905.80 million units (MU), incurring a cost of Rs 1268.55 crore. To meet the power crisis, the state has also procured 300MW of power from Punjab and 700MW of power from Uttar Pradesh under a barter system, with the agreement that it would return 105% of power to both states during the monsoon period (June-September).
“We are in a stable situation at the moment, purchasing power and with the barter trade. But the demand will increase in the coming days. To reach this stage, multiple strategies were adopted. Power was purchased when the demand and rate was the lowest in the grid, so there is no more financial burden on the state government,” an official, requesting anonymity, told TNIE.
The official added that to address the power situation, keeping in mind the poor rainfall, hydel resources are being conserved, reducing it to half while a little stress is being laid on thermal power. Maximum stress is laid on solar, this being the drought period.
“We have reduced hydel generation to a technical minimum of 10-12 MU and use it only during night hours, from the earlier 20-25 MU. Solar generation has been increased up to 2,000MW during peak hours. It also drops to 600-700MW when there is cloud cover. So at this time, hydel, wind, thermal and purchased power is being used,” the official said.
According to the energy department, as on Dec 15, thermal generation is 47.16 MU, hydel generation is 12.87 MU, solar generation is 37.86 MU and wind generation is 23.13 MU.