Delhi's peak power demand dips to 6,140 MW amid drop in max temperature

Amid a drop in the maximum temperature over the past two days, Delhi on Tuesday witnessed a slight dip in its peak power demand that was recorded at 6,140 MW, discom officials said.

"Today's peak power demand was 6,140 MW, recorded shortly after midnight," the officials said.

On Monday, the peak power demand in Delhi was 6,194 MW at 3.34 pm, the highest ever for the first week of May. Later in the night at 11.30 pm, the peak power demand had clocked 6,247 MW, surpassing the peak power demand recorded in the afternoon. On Tuesday, the national capital recorded the maximum temperature at 38.4 degrees Celsius, according to IMD.

The power demand had crossed the 6,000 MW mark for the first time in April. It was over 6,000 MW on several days in the last week of April amid a rise in maximum temperature. The Delhi government expressed apprehensions about supply disruptions claiming a shortage of coal at thermal plants. The Centre has assured that discoms in Delhi will be provided power according to their per requirement. In view of summer and high demand, the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission last week relaxed several provisions concerning short-term power purchase to enable discoms in the capital to procure the available power without any loss of time. The three discoms in Delhi - TPDDL (Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited), 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. Last year, the peak demand of TPDDL was 2,106 MW, which 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. It was 3,118 MW and 1,656 MW for BRPL and BYPL, respectively, in 2021. Delhi's ever-increasing peak power demand is expected to cross 8,200 MW during the summers of 2022.

Due to scorching heat in April, the peak demand of Delhi rose to 6,197 MW on Friday last, the highest ever for April. 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.