India peak power demand hits all-time record of 210,793MW
India’s electricity demand touched a record high of 210,793MW on Thursday as several regions in the north reeled under heatwave conditions, even as officials said the peak power demand was likely to rise amid hot and humid conditions during the monsoon.
India’s electricity demand touched a record high of 210,793MW on Thursday as several regions in the north reeled under heatwave conditions, even as officials said the peak power demand was likely to rise amid hot and humid conditions during the monsoon.
The previous national peak power demand was recorded on Wednesday at 209,809MW. The highest demand until last year was 200,570MW, recorded on July 7, 2021. This year, the government is projecting the peak electricity demand to go up to 215,000MW once monsoon sets in large parts, increasing humidity levels and usage of air conditioners, an official said, asking not to be named.
“The all-India electricity demand met on June 9, 2022 (Thursday) clocked a record of 210,793MW at 3pm. This is an all-time high so far. Also, on June 8, 2022 (Wednesday), the all-India energy consumption also clocked a record high of 4,712 million units (MU). The rising power demand reflects the economic growth in the country post the pandemic. The ongoing heatwave in northwest India is also a reason for the spike in demand,” a power ministry statement said.
India has been suffering from extreme heat conditions this summer, with many experts linking the early onset of an intense summer to the climate crisis. The steep electricity use caused widespread power cuts in April, as the authorities scrambled to manage demand amid dwindling coal supplies.
With the domestic coal production likely to be affected by the monsoon in the coming months, Coal India Limited (CIL) on Thursday floated its maiden tender to import coal – first for the world’s largest coal miner which produces 80% of India’s coal.
Data from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) showed that on Wednesday, 80 of 150 power plants running on domestic coal had critically low coal levels. Of the 15 plants designed on imported coal, eight were marked “critical”. Another eight plants were not in operation due to the ongoing coal shortage.
However, the situation in June so far has been better than the crisis faced in March-April, when up to 90 of the 150 plants running on domestic coal had critically low stocks.
The shortfall in the peak power demand on Wednesday was 936 MW – better than the national peak shortfall of 10,778 MW recorded on April 28, when the peak power demand was 204,653MW.
Many states in the country have faced hours of outages during the current summer because of unrelenting surge in power demand due to a heatwave, rapid economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic, and shortage of coal to generate power. The situation is expected to aggravate further in the monsoon season if cash-strapped power producers do not have adequate coal stock. Generally, coal offtake from mines gets affected during the monsoon.
While the Centre has accused state-run electricity distribution companies (discoms) of poor planning and lack of funds to buy electricity and coal, some states blamed the Union government for not supplying adequate coal.
With the government increasingly focusing on importing coal as a short-term measure to cater to the increased demand, the CIL for the first time ever floated a tender to import 2.416 million tonne (MT) of coal. It floated the tender to source coal on behalf of the state generating companies (gencos) and independent power plants (IPPs), based on the inputs received from them for the July-September period of the current fiscal 2022-23, the CIL said in a statement.
As per the power ministry’s directive, state gencos are supposed to import 10% of their coal requirement for blending purposes. The government previously asked states to place orders in such a way so that delivery of 50% quantity was expected to be ensured by May 31, 40% by June 30 and 10% by October 31.
Very few states, however, placed orders because of which on May 18, the Union power ministry issued a stern warning to all gencos, including IPPs, saying that if imported coal doesn’t start arriving from June 15, domestic coal allocation to the defaulter will be reduced by 5%.