Bengaluru: The entire state, including Bengaluru, is staring at a power crisis due to shortfall from the Central grid and technical glitches in some of the power plants in State. From Monday onwards Bengaluru will have to face load shedding for two hours, while for other towns it will be four hours. Those residing in rural areas will get three-phase power supply for only five hours and single-phase for about 10 hours.
Energy Minister D. K. Shivakumar told reporters on Sunday evening that owing to acute power shortage the state has been forced to resort to load shedding. Currently the state is facing a shortfall of about 25 to 30 per cent of the total requirement. It is facing a shortfall of 2,539 Mega Watt (MW) due to disruption from Central grids and state generating units.
Mr Shivakumar visited load dispatch centre at KPTCL near Ananda Rao Circle in the city to review and study the reasons for frequent power breakdown across the state. Cyclone Hudhud, which had its landfall in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha on Sunday, has also aggravated the power shortage in the state. Around 1,000 MW that was to be supplied from the Central grid situated in Andhra Pradesh, has been disrupted due to the cyclone, he said.
One unit at Raichur Thermal Power Station and one at Bellary Thermal Power Station have stopped production due to technical glitches. Udupi Power Corporation Ltd is generating about 550 MW power, against its capacity of over 1,000 MW, he added.
However, the hydel power scene is much better with the state, thanks to good monsoon. The state was getting over 5,000 MW of power from hydel power sources and 898 MW from non-conventional energy sources. Though the state is entitled to get over 3,800 MW of power from the Centre, currently only 1,338 MW is being supplied, added Mr Shivakumar.
