PowerWatch | Heatwave on, India’s power demand may breach previous high this week

PowerWatch

India met a peak power demand of 199.3 gigawatts (GW) on May 14 and 208.1 GW on May 13. The demand, which could not be met on these days, or the peak demand deficit, was at 13 megawatts (MW) and 600 MW, respectively.

As several parts of the country are now facing heatwave-like conditions, India's peak power demand that will be met may breach the previous high of 215 GW this week.

On May 12, the peak demand was 207.1 GW, while the deficit was 469 MW. The power demand first breached the 200 GW mark after 20 days on May 11, when the peak was 202.6 GW.  Prior to that, it was on April 21, when the demand met was 204.7 GW.

Data showed that between April 1 and May 14, the daily peak demand breached the 200-GW mark on 12 days. With the rise in overall demand, trade volumes in the power exchanges, except the high-price segment, have also increased.

The share of renewable energy sources (wind, solar and hybrid) in the total energy generation was about 14.38 percent during the weekend. The share of renewable energy along with hydropower, nuclear and others was 23.98 percent, according to the data.

Power demand is expected to further climb this week as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said a heatwave has made a comeback in most parts of India after days of pleasant weather. The IMD stated that parts of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, central India and even northeast India are expected to record temperatures as high as 45 degrees Celsius. Delhi and its neighbouring areas are likely to witness temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius.

A survey conducted by LocalCircles has found that as heatwave-like conditions have hit many parts of India, power outages have also started. Out of 12,639 responses, 63 percent or almost 6 out of 10 respondents indicated that power outage happens 1-2 times every day, while 22 percent indicated that it happened 3-5 times a day.

"In effect, 85 percent of those surveyed are facing power outages one or more times a day and many find themselves helpless to do anything without alternatives like diesel generators or inverters, etc. About 37 percent of those surveyed indicated they face power outage for 2- 4 hours every day," stated the survey findings which were released on May 15.

On April 18, when large parts of the country were reeling under heatwave conditions, the peak electricity demand that was met was 215.88 GW, a record high so far. In 2022, the highest peak demand that was met was 212 GW on June 10.

The country’s coal stock situation continues to be “manageable” as of now, according to the data. Of the 165 domestic coal-based thermal power plants in the country, 31 had critical coal stocks as of May 14. Last year at this time, the number of such plants was around 96. About 33 million tonnes (MT) of coal are stocked at the thermal power plants.