There was a time when citizens and power utilities alike dreaded the summer, which had become synonymous with power cuts. Photos of students preparing for exams under candlelight were regulars in newspapers. Power utilities such as the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) would prepare contingency plans to ensure maximum supply.
But since the last few years, Karnataka has been claiming to be a power surplus State, also emerging as the top ranker in renewable energy (RE).
But this has neither ensured power cut-free days in either the capital or the rest of the State nor has it helped in bringing down tariffs, which have only seen a steady increase in the recent past.
Senior Energy Department officials said Karnataka’s journey from a power deficit to surplus State has been a result of, among other things, emphasis on RE which contributed to capacity addition, especially through solar.
Responding to questions of why the State was still purchasing power from private players, an official said: “These are all PPAs (power purchase agreements) signed for 25 years. They are called in when necessary as RE is not sustained power and is unreliable. For instance, solar is only available during the day, and wind output also has no guarantee. So this power is kept as reserve and called upon when needed.” Coal shortage is a day-to-day to affair, he added, when asked about thermal plants.
According to Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. (KPTCL), the installed generation capacity in the State is 30,523 MW. The peak demand shoots up significantly during summer.
M.G. Prabhakar, former member of the advisory committee, Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission, said the State’s power scenario was an example of “water water everywhere, not a drop to drink.”
“It is not just the transformer alone that needs to be taken care of. A transformation is needed. We are only doing tinkering and not bringing in fundamental, radical changes in energy management. There is shortage of coal, the government owes subsidy money, there are crores worth dues from urban and rural local bodies,” he said.
The energy sector, he alleged, is not being managed correctly, which is why there is still intermittent power supply. “When the house is on fire, we want to dig a well. There are infrastructure deficiencies. Buying energy is expensive. In the name of maintenance, every day power is switched off. If you don’t have the fundamental fuel - in this case power, how will the economy engine run? Even the regulatory commission, which is required to take care of this, is not intervening. Regulatory rigour is absent,” he said.
Rishu Garg, research scientist working in the Energy and Power sector at CSTEP, said it is important that all actors in the power sector - from generation and transmission to distribution - work seamlessly.
“While Karnataka has been able to meet the peak demand from the supply capacity available in FY21, interruptions and power cuts happen frequently at the consumer end. However, this is not due to inadequate generation or transmission, but due to operation and maintenance issues at the distribution end,” he said.
The distribution sector in Karnataka suffers from aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses of approximately 13.7% and high levels of AT&C losses mean that ESCOMs are unable to fully recover the amount spent on each unit of energy sold, resulting in poor operational and financial health, he explained.
“This in turn impacts revenue recovery and investment in upgrading the distribution infrastructure, again leading to high AT&C losses, resulting in a vicious cycle. Considering that Karnataka will be transitioning towards a higher RE future with an influx of new technologies such as electric vehicles and rooftop photovoltaic, Karnataka ESCOMs should build robust and flexible operational processes for long-term sustainability,” he said.
