Explainer: Why is Karnataka and Bengaluru in particular facing a power crisis?
Karnataka
Explainer: Why is Karnataka and Bengaluru in particular facing a power crisis?
Reservoirs are dry,technical problems in power stations and infirm wind energy. Where will the power come from?
Karnataka is facing major power crisis, stemmed from a failed monsoon and a severe drought. Many parts of the state, that were previously unaffected by drought, have also been declared drought-hit due to a dismal south-west monsoon.
Since 70% of Karnataka's power comes from hydel resources, the state becomes more vulnerable to power and water crisis.
The total storage in the three major hydel reservoirs of Linganmakki, Mani and Supa are generating just 46.26% of the capacity, which is 4,020 million units of electricity (MUs).
P.Ravikumar, Additional Chief Secretary at Energy department told the Business Line, "availability of power is 40% less than the installed capacity of 10,189 MW . This is due to the breakdown in State and Central generating units and reduced hydro availability."
According to the Bengaluru Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM), the total power generation shortage for Bengaluru is 1820 MW. The reasons stated by Bescom for the acute power shortage are problems faced by major power generating stations.
"UPCL in Udupi with a capacity of 1,200 MW remains shut as it is facing cooling water contamination. The generator transformer in RTPS station in Raichur has caught fire. The generator transformer in BPTS in Belgaum is facing problems too. Annual maintenance work is going on in the central power stations in Kudankulam snd Simhadri plant because of which the state is not able to get its full share of the power generated," says the Bescom release.
In August, the State reportedly witnessed a shortfall of 3,020 MW from State and Central generating stations due to outages in UPCL, RTPS, and BTPS.
Wind power generation has also not been producing to capacity resulting in less availability of power from wind energy.
Talking about demand-supply gap, Ravikumar told the Business Line that the Electricity supply Companies(ESCOMs) get 8% less than they power they require, which is 184 MUs. The State's peak power demand were also not met.