Power demand up 7.5 per cent in February

India witnessed an increase in electricity demand by 7.5 per cent in the first 18 days of February with early onset of summer in the South and West, providing some relief to the stressed thermal power sector which can now operate at higher capacities.

Presently, thermal power projects are operating at 58 per cent capacity, a senior government official said.

Power demand had grown 3.7 per cent in January, turning around after five months of decline.

The electricity demand stood at 1,05,289 megawatt (mw) in January as against 1,01,570 mw in December 2019. According to the data available with Central Electricity Authority, the demand was also 3.5 per cent higher than the 1,01,713 mw in January 2019.

In February so far, demand was 15–20 gigawatt (gw) higher than peak-hour demand for the same period last year.

During February 1-18, thermal and large hydro projects generated 7.3 per cent more electricity than the same period last year, whereas renewable power plants produced about 5.3 per cent more electricity. The peak-hour power requirement reached 176.6 gw in the current month so far, against 160 gw in the corresponding period a year ago.

During April-January period of the current financial year, the power demand was 10.7 per cent higher than in the same period last fiscal year.

However, according to the monthly data of power requirement for January, there was contraction between December and January in Gujarat and Maharashtra, the two most industrialised states in the country, while it was higher in most other states.
The electricity demand is seen as an important indicator of economic health, although the Economic Survey tabled on January 31 had suggested that it was not.
“Given that these indicators do not exhibit a stable relationship with GDP growth even before 2011, they are poorly equipped to diagnose mis-estimation post 2011,” it had said.
In 2019, India’s power demand grew just 1.1 per cent.

In December, the country’s power demand fell 0.5 per cent from the year-ago period, a fifth straight month of decline, compared with a 4.3 per cent fall in November. The fall was the most in October, at 13 per cent, led by a sharp reduction in demand from Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.