Steps discussed to be taken by the Government for meeting Summer Electricity Demand in the country, zero load shedding being emphasised

In a meeting held in the Ministry in 3rd week of March this year, it was stressed that adequate advance planning should be done by all stakeholders, so as to prevent a situation in which one state has surplus power while another state faces power shortages. 

Another meeting has been held today, April 2, 2024 in which the Union Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy reviewed the power capacity status of all thermal power plants experiencing partial outages, with the aim of ensuring maximum availability of thermal capacity on bar. It was informed that the quantum of capacity under partial outages has come down and measures have been suggested in order to further reduce them.

For the upcoming summer season, the Indian Metrological 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.

The peak energy demand grew by 12.7% from 2,15,888 MW in 2022-23 to 2,43,271 MW in 2023-24, while the peak demand met grew by 13.9% from 2,10,725 MW in 2022-23 to 2,39,931 MW in 2023-24.

Relative to the year 2022-23, the energy requirement grew by 7.5% in 2023-24 and the energy availability grew by 7.8%, resulting in a reduction in total energy shortfall from 0.5% in 2022-23 to 0.2% in 2023-24.