The Electricity Supply Companies (ESCOMs) of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation (APGENCO) have signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for sharing 230 MW power generated from Priyadarshini Jurala Hydro power project.
The project commissioned in April 2011 at a cost of ₹720 crore (₹3 crore per MW) has a built in tariff to be determined at identical rates for both the states by APERC.
The project cost is low since the dam related expenditure is incurred by irrigation department, Andhra Pradesh.
According to G Kumar Naik, Managing Director, the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL), the power cost of ₹140 crore is shared equally by ESCOMs of Karnataka and DISCOMs of Andhra Pradesh. The state has paid its share of power block cost or ₹70 crore to APGENCO recently.
“Karnataka is buying power at a provisional tariff of ₹3.23 per unit and the duration of PPA is for 35 years. By this, the State will get about 75 to 200 million units of power via Raichur annually depending on rainfall,” he added.
Multi-purpose projectThe Jurala project was conceived in 1978 by the then chief ministers of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh to be constructed on Krishna basin.
The multipurpose project has been envisaged for both irrigation and power generation. The generation project is of 6x39.1 MW capacity constructed as run-of-the-river project across River Krishna near Revulapally village in Mehaboob Nagar district of Andhra Pradesh.