Power demand in city soaring high; records 22 pc growth this summer months

New Delhi: The power demand in the national capital has been soaring this year with April-May recording a 22-per cent growth over the corresponding period in 2018. The peak power demand in April 2018 was 5,200 MW. In 2019, the demand in April crossed the 5,200-MW mark five times, peaking at 5,664 MW on April 30, said Delhi's Power Department and Discom officials.

"Notwithstanding the intermittent pleasant weather, Delhi's power demand in 2019 is turning out to be up to 22 per cent more than the corresponding period last year," an official said. The power demand in April 2019 has been higher on 19 occasions than the corresponding days in 2018.

On April 22, it was 3,828 MW in 2018 and 4,588 MW in 2019 — an increase of 20 per cent. Again, on April 25, it was 4,438 MW in 2018 and 5,552 MW in 2019 — an increase of 19 per cent, the officials said. The trend continues in May 2019.

Of the first 24 days of May 2019, the power demand has been higher than on 13 corresponding days of last May, increasing by up to 22 per cent on May 10, 2019, when it touched 5,985 MW as against 4,899 MW on May 10, 2018, they said. However, the power demand between May 15 and 24, 2019, has been marginally less than the power demand on the corresponding days last year as temperatures remained relatively pleasant because of the western disturbances, they pointed.

The peak power recorded in May 2018 was 6,442 MW on May 30, 2018. Delhi's peak power demand during the summers of 2019 may clock 7,400 MW. Last summer, peak demand breached 7,000 MW for the first time — peaking at 7,016 MW. This expected peak power demand of 7,400 MW is an increase of over 250 per cent over the peak power demand of 2,879 MW in 2002.

It is interesting to note Delhi's peak power demand is substantially more than that of several cities and States. It is more than the power demand of Mumbai and Chennai put together, thrice than Kolkata, and nearly 2.5 times of the seven north-eastern States put together, said Discom officials. Arrangements have been firmed up by BSES Discoms to source adequate electricity to meet the power demand of over 42 lakhs consumers, said a spokesperson of the Discom.

These arrangements include long-term power purchase agreements and banking arrangements with other States including Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Meghalaya, Manipur and Sikkim, he said. BSES discoms will get up to 865 MW (BRPL 550 MW, BYPL 315 MW) of power through banking arrangements.

Apart from this, BRPL will also get 100 MW of Wind Power from April 2019. Of this, 50 MW is already being received. In case of unforeseen contingencies because of low generation and outages in power plants, the Discoms will purchase short-term power from the exchange, he added.