In view of the debilitating power shortages, of the order of 22%, gripping the state, the Karnataka government has embarked upon a massive capacity addition programme within its borders, a significant part of which is expected to be fueled by natural gas. This includes Karnataka Power Corporation Limited's Bidadi power project, of, either, 1400 MW or 2100 MW capacity, and Power Company of Karnataka Limited's projects in the Belgaum, Gadag and Jagalur districts of the state, totalling to 2100 MW. In order to ensure that this upcoming gas-based capacity does not idle for want of feedstock, as well as to fuel existing CCPPs in the state, the Karnataka government has asked the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for the allocation of 40 MMSCMD worth of gas supplies from Reliance Industries' KG-D6 block. Notably, the four new projects would require a cumulative supply of between 16.2 to 20.2 MMSCMD of gas to operate at 100% PLF. In order to shore up its case, the state government has argued that Karnataka has no gas reserves of its own, neither does it possess any coal or lignite deposits that can enable the state to meet its power generation needs. The southern state has also, so far, not received any allocation from the KG-D6 basin, while it is being forced to buy up to 1000 MW of expensive power daily from power trading companies. It may be mentioned that the state, in 2009, had signed an MoU with GAIL, as a part of its efforts to build more gas-based generation projects to augment its power supply. The MoU, among other things, calls for the development of a gas pipeline from Dabhol to Bangalore, with a transport capacity of 16 MMSCMD. Expected to be operational by 2012, the pipeline will have provision for connectivity to KG-basin gas via the Bijapur-Gulbarga segment of GAIL's network
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