India’s peak power demand saw a plunge to approximately 234 GW after remaining over 250 GW for much of the first half of October, as cooling and irrigation requirements begin to decrease with the onset of cooler weather and rainfall in several parts of the country.
Power demand has spiked majorly in September and October due to lower monsoon rainfall. Consumption reached a monthly record of 260 GW on October 5 and hovered near summer levels through mid-month, with demand on October 15 sitting at 250 GW and rarely dropping below 240 GW during the first two weeks.
This month, power demand was anticipated to fall as the pressure on cooling appliances and irrigation decrease, ET reported a government official saying as. However, some states such as Gujarat and Tamil Nadu continue to witness high peak demand.
In Gujarat, peak demand on 24 October was nearly the same as in much of June "This could be because of the weather-related demand and some industrial demand moving to the grid," an industry official said.
Whereas, September had witnessed a surge of almost 11 percent in electricity consumption. The sustained demand had also kept electricity prices elevated in the short-term market. During the first half of October, day-ahead market prices on the Indian Energy Exchange consistently remained above ₹7 per unit. Meanwhile, domestic power plant coal reserves gradually declined throughout October falling from 18.5 million tonnes at the start of the month to 17.9 million tonnes on October 15, and reaching 17.3 million tonnes by October 24.
