Power Supply vs. Demand

A couple of days ago Delhi consumed more power in a single day than ever before. 

According to reports from the State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC), the national capital recorded its highest ever peak power demand on Tuesday (29 June 2022) noon when it crossed 7,695MW. In the coming days this is expected to cross 8000MW - this is quite a jump from the previous recored of 7,409MW on 2 July, 2019.

The spike in demand has been attributed to the really hot and and humid summer this year with the city's Heat Index (HI) or 'real feel' temperature climbing up to 53C.

While such high temperatures are par for the course for summers in North India, what surprised many of us is near absence of power outages this year. Not once did an extended power cut knock out the inverters leaving us sleepless on sweltering, sweat-soaked bedsheets, seeking refuge on balconies teeming with mosquitos.

What explains this? 

A part of the answer comes from an oped written earlier this month by RK Singh, the current cabinet minister for power and renewable energy. Writing for the Hindustan Times, he presented some interesting numbers:

• India's capacity to generate power was 248,554 MW in 2014. in the last 8 years this has increased by 169,110MW, taking the total power generation capacity to over 400GW
• Maximum demand this year - 215 GW
• The country now has the world's largest integrated grid. Inter-regional transfer capacity has increased from 37,950MW to 112,250MW.
• At COP-21 India pledged to increase power generated from renewable energy sources to 40% by 2030. This goal has already been achieved in November 2021

What is puzzling here is the big gap between capacity and demand. Why are we ramping up power generation capacity when the actual demand is far less? 

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REFERENCES & LINKS

* SinghRK(2022): The Growth of the Energy Sector is Unparalleled, HT, 16Jun22 - https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/no-power-crisis-in-india-generation-capacity-more-than-peak-demand-govt-122031500831_1.html

* PTI (2022): No Power Crisis in India, Business Standard (15 Mar., 2022) - https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/no-power-crisis-in-india-generation-capacity-more-than-peak-demand-govt-122031500831_1.html

* GoI - Ministry for Power and Renewable Energy - https://powermin.gov.in/en/content/honble-cabinet-minister-power-new-renewable-energy