 "heatwave, summer, sun")
Power demand in India is looking at an uptick this summer. The country's peak demand has been 157,000 Mw this month, 15 per cent higher than in the same month last year.
The northern region, especially Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, are likely to load the grid the most. Demand grew by 13 per cent, 10 per cent and 13 per cent in UP, Chhattisgarh and Telangana, respectively, goes a report from lender IDFC. UP has become the second state in the country with 20 Gw demand, after Maharashtra.
In one month, the peak power shortage has increased by more than double to 1,281 MUs due to increase in demand. Currently, of the 300,000 Mw of installed capacity, 60,000 Mw is under outage
Most states are meeting peak demand through the short-term market. Last week, as temperatures rose, the spot power price increased to Rs 4/unit. It was Rs 2.35/unit last March.
Most states would take the short-term route to procure power, said a power market expert, adding states continue to be unwilling to sign long-term purchase agreements.
Delhi saw peak power demand increase to a record 6,500 Mw last year. "We have arranged for long-term purchase agreements and banking arrangements with other states - Himachal Pradesh (425 Mw), Uttar Pradesh (72 Mw), Andhra Pradesh (50 Mw), Sikkim (50 Mw), Tamil Nadu (25 Mw) and Bhutan (40 Mw). The BSES discoms (distribution companies) will get up to 665 Mw through banking arrangements. Additionally, around 150 Mw of renewable energy from Himachal Pradesh and around 20 Mw from Rajasthan. In unforeseen contingencies because of low generation and outages, the discoms will purchase short-term power from the exchanges," stated Reliance Infra-owned BSES, one of the power discoms in the national capital. It is expecting power demand to increase to 7,000 Mw this summer.
Tata Power DDL, the other Delhi discom, had exported up to 300 Mw to Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh during the winter of 2017-18. This will be returned by these states in this summer, it saidy.
Recently, the Union power ministry acknowledged that coal shortage had hit power generation; supply is still a sore point. It said the sector would need 615 million tonnes of coal in 2018-19. Translating to 288 rail rakes a day.
