PowerWatch | India's power demand remains below 220 GW

PowerWatch

The country on June 13 witnessed a peak power demand of 215.35 gigawatts (GW), down from 218.67 GW that was met a day before on June 12. The demand, which could not be met, or the peak demand deficit, stood at 412 megawatts (MW) on June 13 as against 385 MW on June 12.

Power demand is likely to remain below the 220 GW mark for the rest of the week as rains are predicted due to the landfall of cyclone Biparjoy.

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.

Despite the marginal decline in the demand over the past four days, power officials said, the record is likely to be breached as extended-range forecasts by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and Skymet Weather suggest that monsoon rains in the Indian hinterland may be patchy until the first week of July.

The share of renewable energy sources (wind, solar and hybrid) in the total energy generation on June 13 was 16.30 percent. The share of RE along with hydropower, nuclear and others was 27.99 percent.

The non-solar or night-time peak power demand also remained as high at 213.45 GW. On June 12 it was 213.53 GW.

Coal stocks continued to be manageable, as of now, data showed. Of the 165 domestic coal-based thermal power plants in the country, 31 had critical stocks as on June 13. Last year, at this time, there were 96-105 such plants. At least, 34.3 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.