On Wednesday, May 29, in the afternoon, the city’s peak power demand reached an all-time high of 8,302 MW. For the first time in its history, the national capital’s electricity consumption has exceeded 8,300 MW. Delhi’s electricity consumption unexpectedly increased due to the extreme heat.
This summer’s real demand was higher than the 8,200 MW peak demand forecasts provided by electricity distribution companies. Prior to this, on May 24, when it hit 8,000 MW, there was a record high for power usage. The strain on the electrical grid remains a key issue as Delhi continues to battle a prolonged heatwave, with numerous districts witnessing maximum day temperatures of nearly 50°C.
Last week, the power demand touched 8,000 MW. Power distribution companies had estimated the power demand to peak at 8,200 MW this summer, the discom officials said.
Delhiites are enduring an intense and prolonged heatwave, with temperatures in areas like Najafgarh, Mungeshpur, and Narela soaring more than 45 degrees Celsius. The sweltering conditions have pushed the city’s power needs to new extremes.
“We are receiving more than 200 fire-related calls per day, this is the highest in the last 10 years,” Delhi Fire Department Director Atul Garg told ANI. The Delhi Fire Department is going through a difficult moment since both manpower and equipment are stretched.” According to Garg, there might be up to 250 fire-related calls every day if the temperature increases by only one degree.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) says that things may get better in the upcoming days. IMD has predicted that Thursday could see a dip in temperature along with some light precipitation.
More power demand in June
IMD, however, is predicting a little drop in temperature beginning on May 30, so residents in northwest and central India that have been impacted by heatwaves may get some relief. Though most of India, especially the northwest and central regions, should expect June to be hotter and more humid than May, so the relief might not last long.
Sharp power demand surge in Delhi
Noting that the persistent heatwave across north India is leading to a sharp demand surge for electricity in the national capital, a spokesperson with Tata Power-Delhi Distribution Ltd (DDL) said: “The peak power demand in Delhi hit a new record of 8,302 MW. At Tata Power-DDL’s end, we successfully met our highest-ever peak power demand of 2,339 MW and have made sufficient arrangements to meet the demand.”
Meanwhile, the power ministry has taken a number of steps to ensure uninterrupted power suppy, including directing power generation companies to blend 6% imported coal till June. However, parts of NCR such as Ghaziabad and Greater Noida along with several other parts of the country have witnessed power outages over the past week.
Peak power demand has been rising nationwide as well and is getting close to the 240 GW mark. Tuesday’s peak demand was 237.9 GW, the highest for FY25 to date.
Commenting on the peak power demand in the national capital, a BSES spokesperson said: “BRPL and BYPL successfully met the peak power demand of 3643 MW and 1947 MW in their respective areas.”
BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BRPL) and BSES Yamuna Power Ltd (BYPL) are joint ventures between Reliance Infrastructure and the government of Delhi.
With increasing consumption of coal, stocks of the fuel at thermal power plants have been declining, although not to concerning levels. Stocks available at plants currently are adequate to keep these plants going for 16 days, compared to 19 days last month.
Coal-fired plants currently have 47.83 million tonnes of coal in stock.
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