Daily power demand surges to record 185 gigawatts – Times of India

NEW DELHI: India’s power demand hit a record at 185.82 GW (gigawatts) on Wednesday, rising 1.6% over the previous record of 182.89 GW on December 30 and marking 9% increase over the highest single-day supply of 170.97 GW in January 2020.
According to power secretary S N Sahai, the demand peaked at 9.35 am. Government officials said the surge in demand indicated a rebound in industrial and commercial activities in January after a 0.3% dip in factory output in December. The country’s factory output had shown a growth of 1.8% in November. Others said the prolonged cold spell across the northern region also contributed to the surge in demand.
In another indicator of rising consumption, the NTPC group, the country’s largest generation utility, recorded highest-ever generation in a day at 1,009 million units on January 18. The group achieved gross cumulative generation of 222.4 billion units in the April-December period of 2020, marking an increase of 3.8% over the previous corresponding period.
Central Electricity Authority data showed the 38-year-old unit-1 of the group’s Singrauli station in UP spinning at more than 100% capacity during the April-December period.
Power demand has been recovering since September 2020 onwards after economic and commercial activities picked up with the progress in the unlock process. Peak power demand had grown 1.7% in September, 3.4% in October, 3.5% in November and 7.3% in December.
Peak demand had dipped after the lockdown began on March 24 and industrial and commercial consumption nearly evaporated as industries and commercial establishments shut down. This affected demand for five months in the April-August period of 2020, sending it in the negative territory.