Delhi sees season's highest power demand on Sunday

Tata Power Delhi Distribution said it met the peak power demand of 1493 MW on Sunday night.

NEW DELHI: Delhi’s power demand on Sunday touched 5268 MW, the season’s highest amidst the ongoing heat wave. The peak hour power demand recorded on May 24, 2019 was 5094 MW. This is the first time this month, Delhi’s peak power demand has crossed last year’s peak on any given day, a BSES statement said.

Peak power demand in May 2019 was 6461 MW, recorded on May 31. Delhi BSES discoms BRPL and BYPL said they met peak power demand of 2,448 MW and 1227 MW respectively. Last year, Delhi’s peak power demand had clocked 7409 MW. In BRPL’s area, it was 3211 MW and 1686 MW.

Tata Power Delhi Distribution said it met the peak power demand of 1493 MW on Sunday night.

For the last two months, the closing down of commercial and industrial establishments besides offices had led a sharp decline in the overall power demand, Tata Power Delhi Distribution said.

“However, with relaxations in lockdown there are signs of revival of activities and the peak power demand in Delhi is expected to touch the last year’s peak of 7409 MW by July 2020. The company successfully met a peak demand of 2069 MW in 2019 (July),” it said.

As per India Meteorological Department (IMD), Delhi will witness a severe heat wave over the next few days and the temperature will continue to soar in the range of 45-47 degrees. The Department has already declared a Red Alert in the city so that the service providers and the government agencies can plan things in advance for the overall public good.

“This summer season, Delhi is expected to witness an increase in demand with each passing day as everyone accustoms to the new normal and returns back to routine. We have made adequate arrangements of power of up to 2500 MW along with contingency planning, through long-term tie-ups , bilateral imports & power banking arrangements with other states and upgraded network to ensure regular supply in our area of distribution.” said Mr. Ganesh Srinivasan, CEO, Tata Power-DDL said.

Delhi BSES discoms said arrangements have been firmed up to source adequate electricity to meet the power demand of over 44 lakhs consumers. 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.