Karnataka - Bangalore

State pressing for 4,000 MW project

Bangalore: K.S. Eshwarappa, Minister of Energy, said that the Government would sign a memorandum of understanding with the National Thermal Power Corporation for a 4,000 MW project. “A 2,000 MW project has been sanctioned for Bijapur. We will discuss the issue in the next Cabinet meeting and urge the corporation to increase its capacity to 4,000 MW,” he said.

Speaking to presspersons on the sidelines of the 22nd Silver Jubilee Commemoration Lecture of the KEB Engineers’ Association here on Monday, the Minister said that the Government was trying to mitigate the shortage in power supply.

He also said that within six years, the State would have the generation capacity of 10,000 MW. “While the current energy requirement is 10,000 MW, the generation is only about 8,500 MW,” he said.

The State had urged the Union Government to allocate more power to it from the Central Grid. The Union Government was supposed to provide 1,530 MW, but the State got only 900 MW, he said. “To meet the energy requirement, the Government has had to buy Rs. 400 crore of power from other sources,” he said.

He, however, said that the State was managing the shortage in power supply well. He said that considering the reduction in the price of coal, the State Government would urge independent power projects to reduce the rate of per unit of power sold by them.

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