Third Straight day of Hike, Power Demand in Delhi Surges to 5464 MW

Delhi to raise power generation from renewable sources

Peak power demand in the Delhi surged to 5,464 MW on Tuesday (May 26, 2020) night, the highest in the season so far, power Discom BSES has said.

With the ongoing heatwave and the temperature soaring every passing day, peak power demand in the Delhi surged to 5,464 MW on Tuesday (May 26, 2020) night, the highest in the season so far, power Discom BSES said. It was higher than the peak power demand of 5,236 MW recorded on May 26, 2019. This is the third consecutive day this month that Delhi’s peak power demand has crossed last year’s peak on corresponding dates, it said.

Delhi’s peak demand till May 26 is over 62 percent more than the peak power demand of April 2020. The national capital’s peak power demand has increased by over 32 percent since the easing of restrictions on May 18.

Delhi’ Peak Power Demand Down 49% During Lockdown

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Last month, the peak power demand in Delhi had reduced by up to 49 percent with C&I activities virtually at a standstill due to the lockdown imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19, Discoms and power department officials had said. According to official data, the peak power demand during the day has reduced by 40-50 percent, while the peak electricity demand during the night has reduced by around 20-30 percent.

“On their part, BRPL (BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd) and BYPL (BSES Yamuna Power Ltd) successfully met the peak power demand of 2,542 MW and 1,174 MW respectively,” the BSES statement said. BSES discoms are fully geared to ensure adequate power availability during the summer months, it added.

Arrangements have been firmed up by BSES Discoms to source adequate electricity to meet the power demand of over 44 lakh consumers and these arrangements include long term PPAs and banking arrangements with other states. In case of unforeseen contingencies because of low generation and outages in power plants, the Discoms will purchase short-term power from the exchange, it said.

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“Soaring temperature and heatwave are the main reasons behind the spurt in demand. The peak demand in TPDDL areas is expected to touch 1,930 MW in the coming days,” said a TP-DDL spokesperson. The Discom has made adequate arrangements of up to 2,500 MW of power to manage the growing demand, he added.

Recently, we had reported that on Sunday (May 24, 2020) night, amid the prevailing heatwave conditions the peak power demand had soared to the season’s highest of 5,268 MW in Delhi. As reported by BSES, “this is the first time this month that Delhi’s peak power demand has crossed last year’s peak on any given day. Peak power demand in May 2019 was 6,461 MW, recorded on May 31,” they said.