Heatwave-hit North India goes heavy on power consumption

Amid the longest spell of heatwaves in the past 15 years, the power demand in North India surged to 89 GW (89,000 MW) on June 17, the highest ever for a single day. To meet this demand, nearly 25%-30% of power had to be “imported” from outside the region, the Power Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

India’s power grid is divided into five regions: northern, southern, western, eastern, and north-eastern. India also imports electricity from Bhutan and is an exporter to Nepal and Bangladesh.

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As of data available on March 31, the northern region accounts for 113 GW or about 25% of India’s total installed power capacity of 442 GW.

Despite its installed capacity exceeding demand, power still needs to be imported from outside the region as not all plants operate all the time and at their optimal capacity and not all of the available power can be instantly transmitted to where it is required. On Monday, for instance, a power outage at the Delhi airport brought operations to a standstill in the afternoon for nearly 30 minutes.

Most of the northern States continue to reel under heatwaves, with Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh reporting a maximum temperature of 47.6 degrees Celsius on Tuesday. The India Meteorological Department has forecast no significant reprieve except for a slight dip — on the back of light showers for a day — and an increase in temperatures following it. The monsoon is only expected to arrive in the northern States by June-end, though a delay in its progress could push the dates further.

On May 30, India’s total power demand and fulfilment hit 250 GW, which is an all-time high.

Several measures

The Ministry said it was meeting increased demands by ensuring that power plants relying on imported coal were kept in operation, and the bare minimum of plants were shut down for maintenance work. It has also advised power generation companies to keep their plants in a “healthy condition” for optimal operation, while hydropower stations have been advised to conserve water during the daytime and dispense the maximum possible power at night to ensure uninterrupted power supply. Gas-fired power plants would also be utilised to shore up power demand, it said.

Thermal power is the mainstay of India’s power output, comprising about 55% of installed capacity. About 90% of thermal capacity comes from coal and the rest from gas. Wind and solar power together make up about 30% of installed capacity but because their availability is constrained by natural causes, they cannot always be relied upon to be a consistent source of on-demand power.