Date:28/03/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/03/28/stories/2004032812990300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Experts question load management of KPTCL

By Divya Sreedharan

BANGALORE, MARCH 27. Experts have questioned the load management of Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. (KPTCL) and its ability to forecast demand and supply of power. This follows the problems in power supply faced by the corporation this summer.

In January, K.N. Srivastava, managing director of the corporation, announced that there would be no power cuts in the summer. But the situation is considered so bad now that KPTCL has resorted to load shedding. In February, daily consumption crossed a record 100 million units (mu). Since then, consumption has been hovering around 104 mu to 106 mu. The rise has coincided with an average power shortage of between 200 MW and 500 MW owing to technical snags at Tannir Bavi, Talcher and Kaiga power stations. KPTCL resorts to over-utilisation of hydroelectric sources to tide over shortages. Now, experts fear that hydroelectric generation will not last this summer.

While Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd. (KPCL) officials said there was no inflow into the reservoirs, they maintained, "there will be enough water till June." But G.R. Nagabhushana, Chairman of the High Voltage Engineering Department at the Indian Institute of Sciences, said there was no choice but to go in for more thermal and nuclear power stations.

He commended KPCL for running its stations at optimum levels, but felt more had to be done. D. Thukaram, Associate Professor at the Electrical Engineering Department of the institute, agreed that nuclear stations could help. But he also advocated "mini power stations" or distributed generation systems. KPTCL's load management was not systematic. "These engineers have the experience, but they have not factored in the growth in number of air conditioners and multi-storeyed buildings in Bangalore, for example," he said.

In 2002, a group of retired Karnataka Electricity Board engineers called the Karnataka Working Group on Electricity panned the State's power planning up to 2010. The group said that it estimated a demand of at least 7,736 MW by 2010 — 31 per cent higher than the Government's projection in its financial restructuring plan. Further, it said the State's annual projected load growth should be 6.3 per cent and not the 3 per cent as given in the plan.