Delhi's peak power demand touches 7,241 MW, breaks all previous records

With rains continuing to be elusive, Delhi’s peak power demand broke all previous records on Monday (July 1, 2019) as it touched 7241 MW at 3:29 PM. This is the highest ever power demand recorded in the history of the city. It broke the previous record of 7016 MW recorded on July 10, 2018. It is also the highest successful power demand ever recorded in any city in the country.

 According to an estimate by power discoms in Delhi, the peak power demand during this year may touch as high as 400 MW - an increase of over 250% over the peak power demand of 2879 MW in 2002. Delhi’s power demand crossed the 6000 MW for the first time in 2016 (6216 MW on July 1). In June 2019, Delhi’s peak power demand crossed 6000 MW on 24 days. Cooling load is the main reason factor behind the increase in Delhi’s power load.  Infact, according to estimates, almost around 50% of Delhi’s power demand in summers is because of the cooling load (ACs + Cooolers + Fans).

Delhi's Power Minister Satyendar Jain had previously predicted that peak power demand in the city will cross 7,000MW this year but he had assured the people of the city that the government was fully prepared for it and demand would not outpace supply. It is interesting to note that while the peak demand has crossed 6,000MW on several days this year, it had breached the mark only twice in 2016.

On July 10, when the peak demand had set a new record, the BSES had said that the peak power demand this year marks an increase of over 250 per cent over the peak power demand of 2,879 MW in 2002. According to Delhi electricity distribution company (discom) BSES, Delhi`s peak power demand is substantially more than that of several cities and states. "It is more than the power demand of Mumbai and Chennai put together and thrice than that of Kolkata," BSES had said in July.

"The fact that the city`s power demand is consistently crossing the 6,500 MW mark shows the robustness of the capital`s distribution and transmission system, which has been able to measure up. This has been possible on the back of an advanced distribution network and massive reduction in AT & C (aggregate technical and commercial) losses," BSES had said.

The BSES had also said that substantial resources have been invested by the company to strengthen the network for taking additional power load during summer months.

"During the year, BSES discoms have invested heavily to further improve and augment this network by adding new grid substations, power transformers, laying new feeders, shifting overhead lines underground and setting-up new distribution transformers among others," it had said in a statement.