Karnataka: A state without enough power
10 April 2007, Tuesday
One of the biggest problems in India is the lack of adequate electricity. Karnataka is yet another state which is witnessing electricity woes that are hampering its overall growth. It’s time the government considered alternate energy sources.
KARNATAKA IS DOING much to attract investments, but is there the infrastructure to sustain all investments? One of the biggest problems here is the of lack of adequate electricity. Every now and then you hear of IT giants wanting to move to Hyderabad or even Himachal Pradesh, their prime complaint being lack of power. Power is being misused and stolen; never mind what noises the political bigwigs make.
The State needs 105 Mega Units (MU) per month, but it gets only 80 MU, inclusive of purchases from the Central Power Grid. It is in talks with the Central Government to buy 300 MU for consumption till April. Availability of water in hydel reservoirs has also dropped. The water level in Sharavathy Valley, which is the mainstay of hydel power supply in the State, has also gone down. The demand for electricity this year, has reached to 17,400 MW, resulting in a deficit of about 5500 MW during peak hours. Last year, almost 1100 MW was taken from the Central Government, but it is not possible to ask the Centre every time you have a deficit. Load shedding, therefore, has become inevitable in the State in both rural and urban areas.
Power theft is not something new. It has been around for years, but has been kept well under wraps by all those who line their pockets, cleverly couched in the category of “transmission and distribution losses” along with power leakage.
The farmers suffer the most, load-shedding in rural areas going up to more than six hours a day. Urbanites are slightly luckier, but they have to deal with frequent power cuts too. Bangalore is known as the Silicon Valley of India, but its growth is being curtailed by power shortages. This would have an adverse effect on Karnataka’s economy.
The Union Ministry of Power is planning Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPP) in seven areas by July 2007. Karwar in Karnataka is one of the areas. It is also taking other initiatives to set up merchant power plants by private developers. But, all this can be successful only if the issue of power theft is tackled effectively by the government. It is unacceptable for a country that aspires to be a superpower to lose some 30 per cent of the electricity it generates, under the head of transmission and distribution losses.
The government should also try and find a methodology to generate more electric units for consumption, like windfarming, alternate energy sources, setting up diesel power generating units and laying a gas grid etc. It will be better to harness wind energy and set up various mini and micro hydro-electric schemes for power generation, rather than focusing purely on conventional means of electricity generation. With the entire world turning away from traditional sources of power, it is about time Karnataka used its vast pool of scientific talent to find new means of satisfying the increasing hunger for power in the state.
10 April 2007, Tuesday
One of the biggest problems in India is the lack of adequate electricity. Karnataka is yet another state which is witnessing electricity woes that are hampering its overall growth. It’s time the government considered alternate energy sources.
KARNATAKA IS DOING much to attract investments, but is there the infrastructure to sustain all investments? One of the biggest problems here is the of lack of adequate electricity. Every now and then you hear of IT giants wanting to move to Hyderabad or even Himachal Pradesh, their prime complaint being lack of power. Power is being misused and stolen; never mind what noises the political bigwigs make.
The State needs 105 Mega Units (MU) per month, but it gets only 80 MU, inclusive of purchases from the Central Power Grid. It is in talks with the Central Government to buy 300 MU for consumption till April. Availability of water in hydel reservoirs has also dropped. The water level in Sharavathy Valley, which is the mainstay of hydel power supply in the State, has also gone down. The demand for electricity this year, has reached to 17,400 MW, resulting in a deficit of about 5500 MW during peak hours. Last year, almost 1100 MW was taken from the Central Government, but it is not possible to ask the Centre every time you have a deficit. Load shedding, therefore, has become inevitable in the State in both rural and urban areas.
Power theft is not something new. It has been around for years, but has been kept well under wraps by all those who line their pockets, cleverly couched in the category of “transmission and distribution losses” along with power leakage.
The farmers suffer the most, load-shedding in rural areas going up to more than six hours a day. Urbanites are slightly luckier, but they have to deal with frequent power cuts too. Bangalore is known as the Silicon Valley of India, but its growth is being curtailed by power shortages. This would have an adverse effect on Karnataka’s economy.
The Union Ministry of Power is planning Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPP) in seven areas by July 2007. Karwar in Karnataka is one of the areas. It is also taking other initiatives to set up merchant power plants by private developers. But, all this can be successful only if the issue of power theft is tackled effectively by the government. It is unacceptable for a country that aspires to be a superpower to lose some 30 per cent of the electricity it generates, under the head of transmission and distribution losses.
The government should also try and find a methodology to generate more electric units for consumption, like windfarming, alternate energy sources, setting up diesel power generating units and laying a gas grid etc. It will be better to harness wind energy and set up various mini and micro hydro-electric schemes for power generation, rather than focusing purely on conventional means of electricity generation. With the entire world turning away from traditional sources of power, it is about time Karnataka used its vast pool of scientific talent to find new means of satisfying the increasing hunger for power in the state.
No comments:
Post a Comment