Delhi's power demand starts rising, likely to touch over 7,000 MW

Delhi's power demand has started rising under the combined influence of unlocking of the city and weather conditions, crossing over 5,000 MW mark in a night for the first time this summer, discom officials said.

The real-time data of State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC) showed that the peak power demand of Delhi was 5,808 MW at 3.45 pm on Tuesday. It was 5,559 MW at 11.19 pm on Monday, the highest so far this season.

"The increase in power demand corresponds to the gradual unlocking in Delhi and the weather condition," said a discom official.

With an improvement in COVID 19 situation, markets, malls, standalone shops reopened on Monday in the city under the phased unlocking process adopted by the Delhi government. Metro trains also resumed service on Monday after nearly a month.

Delhi's peak power demand in June is up to 33 percent higher than the corresponding peak power demand in the initial eight days of June last year.

Last year, Delhi's peak power demand recorded till June 8 was 4,611 MW.

Because of the lockdown, Delhi's peak power demand recorded last year was 6,314 MW on June 29. It was lower than the all-time high peak power demand of 7,409 MW on July 2, 2019, officials said.

This year, Delhi's peak power demand is expected to be in the range of 7,000 MW to 7,400 MW, considering weather conditions and lockdown. It was originally estimated around 7,900 MW, they said.

Despite the imposition of lockdown since April 19, Delhi's peak power demand in April and May this year was more than the corresponding peak power demand in April and May of last year, the officials said.

"In fact, of the 61 days in April and May, Delhi's peak power demand was higher on 48 days or 78 percent of the days compared to the corresponding period last year," they said.

Ensuring reliable supply in any season is as much the function of proper power arrangements as also of accurate demand forecasting and robust distribution network, said a spokesperson of BSES discoms BRPL and BYPL.

The BSES discoms are fully geared up on all these aspects to meet the power demand of our over 4.5 million consumers and 18 million residents in South, West, East and Central Delhi during the summer months, he added.