BENGALURU: To meet the increasing power demand, as the state government in the budget laid emphasis on the generation and use of solar power, it also did not ignore its reliable conventional power generation source- thermal. The total allocation to the energy sector is Rs 26,896 crore.
The Chief Minister also increased the Gruha Jyothi fund, allocating Rs 9,657 crore for the scheme in 2024-25, which has now been enhanced to Rs 10,100 crore this fiscal.
Chief minister Siddaramaiah announced that it will start generation of 800MW of thermal power from Godhna Thermal Power Plant in Chhattisgarh. CM said the Rs 13,000 crore project will be undertaken under the Tariff Based Competitive Bidding Model.
Explaining the project, a senior energy department official said: “Karnataka was allotted a coal powerplant in Chhattisgarh around 4-5 years back and we were trying to make it operational through various sources, including the NTPC and central government schemes. It has also been realised that supplying coal through rakes is a costly affair. So we decided to start the thermal power plant in Godhna and supply power through the grid.”
To improve energy sector infrastructure in the state, Siddaramaiah announced that the Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPTCL) will set up an Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT). Through this the state aims to generate an investment of Rs 5,000 crore, which will be utilised for different power schemes. The official explained that the InvIT is being established on the lines of Real Estate Investment Trust.
After getting approval from the state wildlife board with certain conditions and awaiting approval from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change for the Sharavathi Pumped Storage, the CM in the budget said the government has started the tender process for generating 2000MW power at the cost of Rs 10,240 crore.
CM announced that the government has also started work to store 1000 MWhr Battery Power Storage facility under PPP at the cost of Rs 1,846 crore in seven sub-stations.
While Karnataka, particularly Bengaluru, rank atop in the number of public electric vehicle charging stations, to tap the segment, Siddaramaiah announced that for the encourage EV vehicle manufacturing and usage, a testing track of international standards and a state-of–the-art EV cluster with common infrastructure will be established in Bengaluru at a cost of Rs. 25 crore.