Power Demand Spikes to All-Time High in First Week of May Due to Unrelenting Heatwave

Delhi: The peak power demand of the city was 6,194 MW at 3:34 PM on Monday (IST), and on May 1, the peak demand stood at 6,048 MW

The power demand had crossed the 6,000 MW mark in April and remained at the same level during the last week of April

National capital Delhi's peak power demand rose to its highest-ever level on Monday, May 2 as heatwave conditions continue. The peak power demand of the city was 6,194 MW at 3:34 PM on Monday (IST), and on May 1, the peak demand stood at 6,048 MW.

The power demand had crossed the 6,000 MW mark in April and remained at the same level during the last week of April.

"At 6,194 MW, the peak demand of Delhi was highest ever in the first week of May. The previous highest in the May first week was recorded at 5,808 MW on May 2, 2019," said discom officials.

Amid the higher usage of electricity in the national capital, the Delhi government has expressed apprehensions about the supply disruptions claiming a shortage of coal at the thermal power plants. However, the Centre has assured that discoms in the city would be provided power according to their per requirement. The Union power ministry maintained that a total capacity of 6,892 MW was available for Delhi and there was no shortage of supply to the capital.

The three discoms in Delhi - TPDDL, BRPL (BSES Rajdhani Power Limited), and BYPL (BSES Yamuna Power Limited) - have anticipated a substantial hike in power demand in their areas of supply this summer.

The peak demand for TPDDL is estimated to go up to 2,350 MW this summer.

The estimated peak demand of BRPL and BYPL is 3,500 MW and 1,800 MW this year respectively.

Whereas, in the overall city, the ever-increasing peak power demand is expected to cross 8,200 MW during the summers of 2022.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Scrabbl staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)