Amid an ongoing heatwave in the country, India’s peak power demand met or the highest supply in a day touched the all-time high of 207.11 GW on Friday, 29 April.
The Ministry of Power said in a tweet on Friday, “The maximum All India demand met (peak supply) touched 2,07,111 MW at 14:50 hrs today, an all-time high so far."
The peak power demand had touched a record level of 204.65 GW on Thursday, 28 April, while the peak power shortage on Thursday was 10.77 GW.
With soaring temperatures, the demand for power is expected to rise even further as summers peak.
There has been a 8.9 percent rise in energy demand in March this year as per the ministry’s statement. Moreover, it is expected that the demand is expected to reach about 215-220 GW in months of May-June, the ministry had stated, news agency PTI reported.
753 Trains Cancelled to Prioritise Delivery of Coal Rakes
Meanwhile, with low coal stocks due to logistical failures, the Railways has decided to cancel 753 trips involving 42 trains to prioritise the delivery of coal rakes across the country.
A total of 713 trips of the South East Central Railway (SECR) have been cancelled till 25 May while 40 trips of the Northern Railways (NR) have been cancelled till 8 May.
The cancellations will primarily impact passengers travelling from key coal-producing states, including Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Jharkhand, The Indian Express reported.
Meanwhile, at least 108 of India’s 173 thermal coal-fired plants currently have critically low levels of coal inventory.
A number of states, including Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Haryana, Punjab, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh, have faced power outages.
(With inputs from The Indian Express and PTI.)
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