Poor rainfall leading to summer-like peak demand, says Karnataka Energy Minister K.J. George

Karnataka faces summer-like peak demand for electricity due to poor monsoon. Govt. is purchasing power to meet shortfall & planning to import coal for better power generation. Union Minister of Power & Renewable Energy says nation is fully prepared to meet any spike in demand.

The poor southwest monsoon in Karnataka is resulting in “summer-like” peak demands for electricity, said Energy Minister K.J. George. Participating in #THTalksBengaluru, a live chat with The Hindu and its readers on Monday (September 4), the Minister said while the State generated 252 million units (MU), as on Monday, the demand was 269 MU. The government is purchasing power to meet the shortfall.

“We usually shut down thermal stations for maintenance during monsoon, but we have not done that this time. Unfortunately, as it is cloudy, solar generation is also not very high and wind generation has also gone down. The shortfall is around 17 MU. We are facing a summer-like situation now,” said Mr. George.

According to the Energy Department, Karnataka hit an all-time record peak demand of 16,950 MW on August 25. While the corresponding consumption was 294 MU, the August 2022 peak was 11,268 MW and 11,371 MW in August 2021.

Nationally too, the demand hit a record high of 239.978 GW (gigawatts) or 2,39,978 MW on September 1 at 12.22 p.m., according to the Ministry of Power. “This is an all-time high so far. The sudden rise in power demand was met by taking several proactive measures,” said R.K. Singh, Union Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy on X (formerly Twitter).

“From adding capacity aggressively, running coal-based plants at full throttle to massive renewables deployment, a mechanism has been put in place to meet any contingency. We are fully prepared to meet any such spike in future too. The progress of the nation cannot be compromised,” he added.

The Karnataka government is also planning to import coal for better power generation, said Mr. George. “Coal quality is not good in India. With indigenous coal, more ash is produced which affects power generation. We need good quality coal for new technology thermal plants. We are planning to import coal and blend it and we are going to call for a global tender. A scrutiny committee headed by judge will oversee this,” he explained.