PremiumNEW DELHI: India’s peak electricity demand surged beyond the 200-gigawatt (GW) mark on Wednesday, registering a new record.
With the unabated rise in mercury and a large part of the country yet to receive monsoon showers, India’s peak electricity demand has been on an upward trajectory setting new records every day.
The last all-time peak power demand of 197.06 GW was recorded on Tuesday, which was preceded by a high of 191.24 GW on 30 June last month. Before that, India had recorded a peak power demand of 189.64 GW on 31 January this year. This comes in the backdrop of India’s peak electricity demand falling during second wave, that has revived now.
“All India power-demand crossed 200 GW at 1201 hrs today," the office of power and new renewable energy minister Raj Kumar Singh said in a tweet.
This assumes importance given that energy consumption, especially electricity and refinery products, usually linked to overall demand in the economy. Of India’s total electricity demand load pattern, industrial and agricultural consumption account for 41.16% and 17.69%, respectively. Commercial electricity consumption accounts for 8.24%.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the marquee ₹3.03 trillion power distribution company (discom) reform scheme. The reforms are aimed at improving reliability and quality of power supply.
India is working on its energy transformation plan that involves a raft of green measures including clean electricity, ethanol blending with fossil fuels, green mobility, battery storage and green hydrogen to help reduce pollution and facilitate commitments made at COP-21, the UN Climate Change Conference held in France in 2015.
