BANGALORE, October 12: Get ready for darker days as the power utilities resorted to load-shedding from Sunday owing to a shortfall of 2,500 to 2,600 MW of power. While Bangalore may face one to two hours of load-shedding, other urban areas may have to go without power for two to three hours. The worst hit will be the villages as they may have to stay without power for nearly 12 to 13 hours a day.
The duration of the load-shedding may vary every day, depending upon the demand for power as officials are working on a real-time basis to plan the load-shedding.
A decision to this effect was taken after an emergency review of the power availability and supply situation by Minister for Energy D.K. Shivakumar with top-ranking officials of the power sector.
Mr. Shivakumar told The Hindu that as far as possible, efforts would be made to prevent load-shedding in Bangalore. “However, certain areas may have to face one to two hours of power cut due to technical reasons,” he said.
According to him, there is a shortage of about 1,800 MW from the generating stations in the State, including the Bellary Thermal Power Station, Raichur Thermal Power Station and the Udupi Power Corporation Ltd. due to technical reasons, as well as shortage of coal.
There is also a shortfall of about 709 MW in the State’s share from the Central generating stations. Various reasons, including the onslaught of the Hudhud cyclone, were responsible for the shortfall in generation in the Central generating stations, the Minister said.
The situation is expected to improve by October 20 when the generation by thermal stations improve and the State will be able to procure additional power.
