State gets 200 MW additional power

www.mangaloretoday.com

Bengaluru, November 29, 2015: The Centre has allocated an additional 200 MW of unallocated power for the State with immediate effect.

This was disclosed by Union Minister for Power, Coal and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal in a letter to Ministerial colleague M. Venkaiah Naidu, who represents Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha. Mr. Naidu had appealed to Mr. Goel on October 20 to provide additional power of 1,000 MW. While 200 MW has been presently allocated to tide over shortage, Mr. Goel has assured Mr. Naidu of providing more power when the transmission capacity of the southern regional power grid increases.

Considering that Karnataka’s peak power demand is over 7,000 MW, the Centre’s gesture of providing 200 MW is not substantial and will not help in getting rid of load-shedding. But it cannot be completely discounted as it is going to be near impossible for Karnataka to procure this quantum of power in a few months from now when the demand just shoots up and the transmission corridor will be jammed, an insider in the power sector observed.