PowerWatch | Renewables contribute 11% to meet India's current power demand; share of coal at 77%

Power demand remained below 200 GW on April 26.

At least 77 percent of India's electricity demand is currently being met by coal-fired power plants, even as the country met a peak power demand of 195.8 gigawatts (GW) on April 26.

The demand which could not be met on the day, or the peak demand deficit, decreased to 59 megawatts (MW) from 294 MW on April 25.

Government data showed that as on April 26, the contribution of renewable energy sources (RES) such as solar, wind and biomass to meet the power demand was 11 percent, whereas, the share of coal-fired thermal power plants was 77 percent. The role of hydropower projects was 7 percent. Nuclear, lignite and gas-based plants contributed 2 percent each, the data stated.

To increase the contribution of renewable energy sources in India's total energy mix in the coming years, the government has now asked central public sector undertakings (CPSUs) - NTPC Ltd, Solar Energy Corporation Of India (SECI) Ltd., NHPC Ltd and SJVN Ltd - to float 10-15 GW of tenders each. In total, the government has set a target of inviting bids for 50 GW of renewable energy projects annually, starting this financial year.

Late last week, several parts of the country were lashed by unseasonal rain, which caused damage to the wheat crop, but brought respite from soaring temperatures.

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.

Also read: Pooling of electricity from old plants to go live across India from July

Data analysed by Moneycontrol showed that between April 1 and April 26, the daily peak demand breached the 200 GW mark on nine days. With the rise in the overall demand, trade volumes in the power exchanges have also started to increase.

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 the demand for electricity 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 the peak demand to touch 230GW this summer and Union Mnister RK Singh said the country was prepared to meet the demand.

This week, however, a surge in demand is unlikely as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted that many states will get relief from scorching heat due to a western disturbance that will keep temperatures low.

The story so far

On April 19, the peak power demand that was met was 214.92 GW (214,924 MW), while the peak shortage was 1,418 MW. While the numbers for April 18 are mentioned above, the demand that was met on April 17 was 211 GW (210,829 MW), while the peak shortage was 1,592 MW.

Throughout the week, the peak demand that was met continued to fall. On April 20, the peak demand that was met fell to 211.8 GW (211804 MW) but the shortfall was only 55 MW. The next day, the demand met slipped to 205 GW (204,777 MW) and the shortage was 57 MW. On April 22, the peak demand met was 198.2 GW (198,272 MW) and the peak shortage rose to 884 MW. On April 23, the demand met came down to 184.4 GW (184,407 MW) but the shortage too narrowed to 34 MW.

However, on April 24, it being a Monday, the peak demand that was met rose to 191.9 GW (191,917 MW)\, after a gradual decline for six consecutive days. On April 25, the demand that was met marginally increased again to 194.3 GW (194,367 MW). On April 26, this slightly rose to 195.8 GW (195,821 MW).

The coal stocks situation is “manageable”, as of now, data accessed by Moneycontrol shows. Of the 165 domestic coal-based thermal power plants in the country, 32 had critical stocks. Last year at this time, the number of such plants was around 96.

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.