Power Ministry Prepares for Summer Peak; Coal and Gas to be Pivotal

The Union Power Ministry has said that it has devised a multi-pronged strategy to ensure adequate availability of power during the upcoming summer months. Power and MNRE Minister RK Singh chaired a review meeting with senior officers from power sector, coal and railways to discuss aspects to meet the high electricity demand in the upcoming April to May period.

Representatives of Central Electricity Authority, Grid Controller of India, Railway Board, Coal and NTPC also attended the meeting.

Power Ministry directed the power utilities to undertake maintenance for coal-based power plants well in advance. Directions have already been issued to all imported coal-based plants to run at full capacity from March 16, 2023. Adequate coal stocks would be made available at the coal-based power plants.

Railway Board has assured to make available enough rakes for transport of coal by agreeing to provide 418 rakes to different subsidiaries of CIL, GSS and captive blocks.

India’s power availability in “non-solar hours” this April is expected to be 1.7 percent lower than peak demand, as per reports. That is largely thanks to the high solar capacity additions in the past five years, which have taken overall capacity to over 65 GW, almost all of it available only during sunshine hours or daytime. Renewables, in fact, are expected to contribute as much as 18% of daytime generation.

The Power Ministry held that gas-based power would be used to meet any peak demand. NTPC has been directed to run its 5000 MW gas-based power stations during the crunch period in April-May. In addition, 4000 MW of additional gas-based power capacity would be added by other entities for availability during the summer months. GAIL has already assured supply of gas during the said period.

Power Ministry has also asked all hydro plants to operate in consultation with Regional/State Load Dispatch Centers to optimize water utilization in current month for better availability during the next month.

Focus on Coal; Renewables

To meet the peak summer demand, the power ministry has fallen back on coal fired power systems. An additional capacity of 2920 MW will be available through new coal-based plants which would be commissioned by the end of this March including two units at Barauni of 110MW each.

Load-shedding has been disallowed during the summer months CEA has been instructed to ensure that a fair and transparent mechanism is devised for allocation of coal to various States/UTs.

As per estimates of the Central Electricity Authority, the peak electricity demand is expected to be 229 GW during the months of April ’23, when the electricity demand is highest in the country.