Bhubaneswar, March 10 (IANS) Faced with acute shortage of power, Orissa has asked the central government to allocate at least 500 MW of power daily to the state, Energy Minister Sabyasachi Nayak said Wednesday.

Nayak said he has written to union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde asking him 'to provide 500 MW of power from the unallocated share of central generating stations until the situation improves'.

Orissa, which requires more than 3,000 MW of power during peak hours, has been facing a shortage of about 500 MW of power every day due to low electricity generation in six hydel power plants.