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Dear Reader,
Last week India’s peak power demand shot up to 270.8 gigawatts on May 21, after a steady growth in daily new peaks: 265.4 GW on May 20, 260.4 on May 19, 257.3 on May 18 and 238.4 on May 17. While this growing demand for electricity is due to intense heatwave, as stated by the Union Ministry of Power, analysis of trends show that residential cooling demand is now overtaking industrial demand growth in several regions.
The encouraging news is that renewable energy, especially solar, now supplies nearly a quarter of overall electricity demand, punching well above its historical share. But the strain on the grid is evident. India still lacks sufficient battery-storage capacity to shift surplus daytime solar power into the evening hours, when demand remains high but sunlight fades. The limited flexibility in operations of current round-the-clock power system, which is coal-based thermal power, exacerbates the strain highlighted in capacity shortages during non-solar peak demand periods. The consequence, in many places, is frequent and prolonged power cuts just as households need electricity most.
To help you monitor India’s daily peak electricity demand, we have introduced Power Demand Tracker, which also shows how different energy sources contribute to the country’s power mix in real time and which states are hit badly by the shortfall.
Your feedback and ideas help shape our work. So do write to us here.
Thank you
Snigdha Das |
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