Karnataka does not have any coal deposits. It gets its coal from outside. The electrical energy for Karnataka was purely hydro and with the commissioning of Raichur thermal power station, it may get electrical energy from coal also. the other major source of commercial energy - oil - is also not available in Karnataka. Hence the main source of commercial energy for the state comes from hydroelectric plants. These plants have large reservoirs to store rain water throughout the year, the dams being built in prime forest areas there by submerging sizable areas of forest. It is shown by a study that we can obtain comparable quantity of energy from forest biomass instead of water from the submerged areas. An ideal solution will be to go in for a set of peaking power plants with minimum storage which utilize rain water during monsoon and can be supplemented by firewood based thermal power plants.

But commercial energy sources like coal, oil, electricity provide only a small part of the energy scene of Karnataka. Major energy share comes from firewood. Table 8 gives the consumption pattern for Karnataka for 1982-83. Electricity represents 40% of commercial energy for 1982-83. There is an increase in the percent share for electricity. Firewood consumption is around 15.5 million tons of coal equivalent. Agro wastes are also used for energy purposes. The share of industries in energy is around 44%. The state generated 6,400 million units of electrical energy in 1982-83. The share of industries in electricity is 4,566 million units.