India met a peak power demand of 212.4 gigawatts (GW) on May 15, up from 199.3 GW that was met the day before on May 14.
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 in a day or two.
The demand that could not be met on May 15, or the peak demand deficit, increased to 413 megawatts (MW) from 13 MW on May 14. The share of renewable energy sources (wind, solar and hybrid) in the total energy generation on May 15 was 15.86 percent. The share of renewable energy along with hydropower, nuclear and others was 25.84 percent, according to data.
Data showed that between April 1 and May 15, the daily peak demand breached the 200-GW mark on 13 days. With the rise in overall demand, trade volumes in the power exchanges, except the high-price segment, have also increased.
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.
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 230 GW this summer and Power Minister RK Singh told Moneycontrol that the country was prepared to meet the demand.
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