MC Exclusive: India's electricity demand growing at 10.5% is unprecedented: RK Singh

Union Minister for Power and Renewable Energy RK Singh in an exclusive interview with Moneycontrol stated that the government is "well prepared" to handle the peak power demand this summer.

He pointed out that the electricity demand in the country is growing at an unprecedented rate of 10.5%, and the government is confident that it can handle it.

To avoid a repeat of last year's power crisis, the Power Ministry has already issued two significant orders. The first order mandates all coal-based power generators to blend 6% of imported coal, while the second invokes section 11 of the Electricity Act, 2003, so that all thermal plants using imported coal generate at their full capacity.

Last year, these orders were issued in May, when the power crisis had already taken hold. In April and May 2022, many states in the country faced hours of outages due to heatwaves, rapid economic recovery, and a shortage of coal to generate power. This happened despite record coal production by Coal India in 2021-22, and the authorities had to scramble to manage demand amid dwindling coal supplies.

It is likely that a coal shortage at thermal power plants (TPPs) will recur this time as well. However, the impact might not be as much last year because of the government’s multi-pronged strategy. Some 70-80 percent of India’s electricity production comes from coal-fired power plants.

The government is eyeing a total of 9,000 megawatt (MW) electricity from gas-based power plants and another 2,920 MW from brand new thermal power plants to meet the surge in power demand this summer.

As first reported by Moneycontrol, the government announced on March 9 that the power ministry has directed NTPC to run its 5,000 MW-gas-based power stations during the crunch period in April-May. Another 4,000 MW of additional gas-based power capacity would be added by other entities (private and state governments) for availability during the summer months. This totals to 9,000 MW from gas-based power plants.

As per estimates of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the peak electricity demand is expected to be 229 gigawatts (GW) in April this year. Union minister for power RK Singh chaired a high-level meeting on March 7 to take stock of the preparations to ensure power supply during the peak months.