‘I assure You that There Won’t Be Any Power Outage this Summer’-Karnataka State Energy Minister K J George during an interactive meeting with the elected representatives and other stakeholders of MESCOM and KPTCL in Mangaluru at the MESCOM Conference Hall, Bejai, Mangaluru
Mangaluru: Before Karnataka State Energy Minister K J George started addressing the audience, MLC Manjunath Bhandary stood up and complimented the Minister for being the only Energy minister who had conveyed an interactive meeting with the elected representatives and stakeholders for the FIRST time. Addressing the gathering Minister K J George said the department is taking elaborate measures, including increasing thermal power production and resorting to There will not be any power outage this summer. The department is contemplating setting up a green hydrogen power plant in Mangaluru on a pilot basis, with 24/7 pumped storage systems in hydro-power projects, to insulate Karnataka from power outages during the summer.
The Minister was interacting with people’s representatives and other stakeholders of the power sector of Dakshina Kannada district at a programme organised by Mangalore Electricity Supply Company Ltd., (MESCOM) at the MESCOM Conference Hall, Bejai, Mangaluru.. The Minister said, “The State did not purchase power in the last couple of years due to the COVID-19 impact. This year however, the power demand has shot up from the earlier 8,900 MW to 16,000 MW due to monsoon failure and unfavourable weather conditions affecting wind and solar energy production. Quality coal too was not available due to rains in the coal mining regions, he said. Tenders would shortly be floated to import coal while the thermal power plants would go for blending of domestic and imported coal as well as coal washing to increase thermal power production. The government has already entered into agreements with Punjab and Uttar Pradesh to buy power under a barter system”.
“Karnataka would also get 100 MW power from the Central grid through the Kudligi Thermal Power Plant. The natural gas-based power plant at Yelahanka will be functional by this month generating 370 MW power. The department has also started experimenting with a pumped storage system for power generation at the Sharavathi and Varahi hydropower plants wherein water used for power generation would be pumped back to the reservoir to generate power once again. Regarding the Green hydrogen plant the department was planning to produce green hydrogen power in Mangaluru on a pilot basis with the government coming out with a policy soon,” added K J George.
He further said, “Though Pavagada in Tumakuru was chosen earlier for the pilot, Mangaluru was found suitable as it was located on the coast. Hydrogen produced from the seawater mixed with Ammonia generates green hydrogen power, which Gujarat and Rajasthan have already been producing. Many investors were keen to invest in this sector in Karnataka at the World Economic Forum in Davos. We have already signed an MoU with an agency for pumped storage at Varahi, KPTCL has floated a tender for a pumped storage hydel power system at Sharavathi, which is expected to generate 2,000 Mw electricity.”
To a question by MLC BM Farooq and MLA D Vedavyas Kamath on the need to lay underground cables, George said cables require huge investments. “A firm has come forward to lay UG cables on an annuity basis payment depending on the KERC power tariff. Similar proposals will be made for Mangaluru as well,” he said. George said his government will soon unveil a policy on green hydrogen and explore possibilities of using it as a clean energy source. “Gujarat and Rajasthan have already begun producing green hydrogen,” he said.
Legislators Vedavyas Kamath, MLA Ashok Kumar Rai, B.M. Farooq and Manjunath Bhandary, KPTCL Managing Director Pankaj Kumar Pandey, MESCOM Managing Director D. Padmavathi, former MLA J R Lobo, Corporator Naveen D’souza, KCCI President Ananthesh V Prabhu, and others were present.