K'taka seeks pvt investment in power projects

The Karnataka government plans to bring in private investment for three power projects with a combined generation capacity of 3,000 Mw to augment supply.

The government has called for expression of interest (EoI) from the private sector to execute thermal power projects (1,000 Mw each) at Chamalapura (Mysore), Ghataprabha (Belgaum) and Jewargi (Gulbarga). This is the first such proposal by the state government.

Earlier, the Karnataka Power Corporation, a state public sector unit, was supposed to implement all the three projects. However, the government decided to offer the projects to the private sector to ensure its quick execution.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd has invited EoI from power producers and traders throughout the nation to supply 4,000 Mw of power to meet the growing demand. Of this, the supply of 2,500 Mw will be on a long-term basis while 1,500 Mw will be on a medium-term basis.

KPTCL managing director Bharat Lal Meena said the last date for submitting EoI was March 15.

The average daily power consumption in the state is around 109 million units while the availability is 117 million units. This summer, the demand has touched 130 million units per day with the state being forced to resort to load shedding.

"The government has embarked on short-term and long-term measures to meet the growing demand for power. A decision on regular load shedding during summer will be taken only after studying the demand for power in the coming days," he added.