India met a peak power demand of 198.3 gigawatts (GW) on May 10, up from 196.2 GW that was met a day before on May 9.
The demand which could not be met on the day, or the peak demand deficit, decreased to 512 megawatts (MW) from 2,348 MW on May 9.
The share of renewable energy sources (wind, solar and hybrid) in the total energy generation on May 10 was 10.37 percent. The share of RE along with hydropower, nuclear and others was 20.11 percent, data showed.
Power demand is expected to further climb this week as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said a heatwave is likely to make a comeback in most parts of India after days of pleasant weather. The IMD stated that parts of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and central 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.
Unless there is a drastic change in the weather, India's peak power demand is likely to again cross 200 GW in a day or two. Data showed that between April 1 to May 10, the daily peak demand breached the 200-GW mark in 9 days. With the rise in the overall demand, trade volumes in the power exchanges, except the high-price segment, have also increased.
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On April 18, when large parts of the country were reeling under heat-wave conditions, the peak electricity demand that was met was 215.88 GW (215,882 MW), a record high so far. In 2022, the highest peak demand that was met was 212 GW (211,856 MW) on June 10.
The summer of 2022 was marked by intense heatwaves that pushed up electricity demand from industries as well as households and a coal shortage led to outages in several parts of the country.
To avoid a repeat this season, the Power Ministry has taken measures such as mandating all imported coal-based thermal plants to operate at full capacity. The ministry expects peak demand to touch 230GW this summer and Power Minister RK Singh told Moneycontrol the country was prepared to meet the demand.
The coal stocks' situation continues to be “manageable”, as of now, data showed. Of the 165 domestic coal-based thermal power plants in the country, 28 had critical stocks as on May 10. Last year at this time, the number of such plants was around 96. About 33 million tonnes (MT) of coal are stocked at thermal power plants.
Coal stock is said to be at a critical level when power plants have less than 25 percent of the normative 26 days of fuel with them.
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A report by CRISIL Ratings released on May 8 also stated that this year, the coal supply situation has fared much better. "Overall despatch of coal to end users increased 11.6 percent on-year to 80.35 MT in April 2023. Despatches made to power plants were up 6.6 percent to 65.41 MT in the same period. The increase in domestic supply, and the mandate to blend 6 percent of requirement with imported coal in the first half of fiscal 2024, has led to adequate buffers at thermal power plants this time," the report stated.
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