Telangana govt seeks additional 2000 MW electricity from NTPC

New Delhi: The Telangana government has sought an additional 2000 MW from state-run National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC Limited) to meet the rising power demand in the state because of the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project, a top TRANSCO official said on Thursday. "We have requested the NTPC to give us 2000 mw of their unallocated power. We need it from July to November of this year. Once the Kaleshwaram project becomes operational, our power requirements will go up by 2000 mw additionally," TS Transco CMD, D Prabhakar Rao said.

Demand expected to go up when Kaleshwaram project comes up

Telangana has a total installed capacity of 16,300 MW that includes conventional and non-conventional power. The present demand of power stands at 7800 MW to 8000 MW as it is lean season for agriculture. However, the state expects the demand to go up when the irrigation project comes up. "We are backing down our power stations. Base load itself is 9500 MW. So we are backing down our stations now because we get solar power up to 2800 MW to 3000 MW during afternoons. We are expecting a load of around 13,000 MW when Kaleshwaram project comes up," Rao said.

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'Purchasing electricity from NTPC would be cheaper'

Rao said that the state government opted to buy electricity from the state-run power producer as it would be cheaper than the other options available in the market. Also, the power utility would not have to float a tender, the official said.

The backdrop

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had announced his decision to inaugurate the Rs 80,000 crore Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme on June 21. The irrigation project, a brainchild of KCR, aims to make water available for irrigation, industries and drinking to 70 percent of the districts in the state.

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