Peak power demand scales new high for any Indian city

scorching heat sent Delhi’s power demand soaring to an all-time high of 6,361 MW on Monday.

With day temperatures hovering above 44 degrees Celsius, the spike has made Delhi the biggest consumer of electricity among all cities in India. The demand is over 60% more than that of Mumbai which consumes around 3,700 MW. It is nearly four times the power demand of Chennai (1,500-1,800 MW) and almost thrice that of Kolkata (2,100 MW).

The power demand rose to 6,361 MW at 3.06 pm on Monday breaching the previous record of 6,261 MW that was met on July 1 in 2016. This is also 12% more than the demand of 5,673 MW recorded on the same day (June 5) in 2016.

According to a Delhi Transco Limited official, there is enough supply to cater to the demand. But outages occurred in several parts of the city, primarily areas in East, South and West Delhi.

Major areas that suffered power cuts from one to over five hours include Tagore Garden, Sangam Vihar, Chandni Chowk, Anand Parbat, Chhatarpur, Jahangirpuri, Majnu Ka Tila, Burari and Azadpur.

“The rise in demand coupled with the heat does not give a chance for the network to cool down,” the official said.

The official said power utilities are prepared to meet a demand of up to 7,000 MW and that power cuts occur due to local faults.

Government officials said the demand this time has peaked earlier than it did during the previous years. “The highest demand in 2016 touched 6,260 MW on June 30 and 6,261 MW on July 1. This year, the city saw a 100 MW spike in consumption that too as early as on June 5,” an official said.

Earlier, consumption had crossed the 6,000 MW on May 16. In 2016 this happened on May 19.

Nearly 4,000 MW was consumed in areas under BSES discoms that supply power to 75% consumers. The Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited supplied 1,830 MW on Monday in North and North West Delhi.

“We are expecting the Delhi peak demand to cross 6,600 MW this summer and TPDDL’s to cross 1,950 MW,” said Praveer Sinha, CEO and MD, TPDDL.

He said the discom has made adequate arrangements of power of up to 2,000 MW for its area, along with contingency planning, through long-term tie-ups and power banking arrangements, and upgraded network.