The Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation (APGENCO) and Electricity Supply Companies (ESCOMs) of Karnataka 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 an expense t of Rs.720 crore (Rs.3 crore per MW) has a built in tariff to be determined at identical rates for both the states by APERC. The cost of the project 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 Rs.140 crore is equally shared by ESCOMs of Karnataka and DISCOMs of Andhra Pradesh. The state has paid its share of power block cost or Rs.70 crore to APGENCO recently.
“Karnataka is buying power at a provisional tariff of Rs.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.
The Jurala project was conceived in 1978 by the then chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to be constructed on Krishna basin.
The multipurpose project has been envisioned for both irrigation and power generation. The generation project is of 6×39.1 MW capacity constructed as run-of-the-river project across River Krishna near Revulapally village in Mehaboob Nagar district of Andhra Pradesh.