PowerWatch | India's power demand remains below 200 GW

PowerWatch

India met a peak power demand of 193.28 gigawatts (GW) on June 26, down from 198.67 GW that was met a day before on June 25. The decline in demand can be attributed to monsoon reaching several parts of the country, officials said.

The peak demand deficit, which refers to the shortfall in meeting the demand, stood at 64 megawatts (MW) on June 26 against 13 MW on June 25.

On June 9, the country witnessed a record-high power demand of 223.23 GW, surpassing the previous high of 222.92 GW recorded on June 8.

In 2022, the highest peak demand met was 212 GW on June 10.

Coal stocks continued to be manageable, as of now, data showed. Of the 165 domestic coal-based thermal power plants in the country, 38 had critical stocks as on June 25. Last year, at this time, there were 96-105 such plants. At least 33.4 million tonnes (MT) of coal are stocked at thermal power plants.

Keeping in mind the sustained growth in power demand, the government on June 12 also extended its direction to imported coal-based plants to mandatorily operate and generate power till September 30 this year. This direction was issued under Section 11 of the Electricity Act, 2003. Prior to the June 12 extension, the mandate was to be valid till June 15.