A severe heat wave pushed India’s power demand to a fresh high. As per the data from the Ministry of Power, the power demand in India was on May 23, 2024 at its seasonal high at 237 gigawatts (GW), surpassing its previous record high of 234 GW seen earlier this week.
The government had expected a power demand of between 225-235 GW during May. In June, power demand is expected to be between 235-240 GW and 235 GW in the evening, and 240 GW during the daytime. Therefore, the government is taking all necessary steps to ensure that the electricity demand in the summer season is met. To ensure this, a series of meetings, emphasizing the need for ensuring Zero load shedding during the summer season was held.
Meanwhile, for this summer season, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has projected higher-than-normal maximum and minimum temperatures across the country, except over some isolated areas of Northwest, Northeast, Central and Peninsular India. The electricity demand would also hence be higher than in previous years, which is reflected also in the rising trend of peak demand in recent months, during both solar hours and non-solar hours.
