New Delhi: India’s peak power demand hit the season’s high of 236.59 GW on May 23, a day after touching 235.06 GW, mainly due to intense heatwave conditions prevailing across most of India and increased use of cooling appliances like air conditioners and coolers. According to official data, the peak power demand of 236.59 GW was registered during solar hours at 3.59 pm and there was a shortfall in supply of 35 MW. This is the highest peak power demand on record this Summer season and is higher than what the Ministry of Power had projected for May.
Earlier this month, the power ministry projected a peak power demand of 235 GW during daytime and 225 GW during evening hours for May and 240 GW during daytime and 235 GW during evening hours for June 2024. In the last Summer season, India had registered an all-time high peak power demand of 243.27 GW in September 2023. The record is likely to be broken this as Mercury continues to soar. The Ministry of Power has projected that the peak power demand is likely to hit 260 GW during this summer.
The official data shows that peak power demand was 224.18 GW in April, when Summer season began in India. During May, peak supply hit 233 GW on May 6 and 233.80 GW on May 21.
In March, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) projected that India is likely to experience a warmer summer and more heatwave days this year, with El Nino conditions predicted to continue at least until May. From March to May, the number of heatwave days is likely to be above normal over most parts, except northeast India, the western Himalayan region, the southwest peninsula and the west coast, it stated.
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