Power demand to cross 7400 MW this summer

New Delhi: The peak power demand in the national capital is likely to cross the 7,400 MW mark this summer, a power discom spokesperson said on Friday.

Last summer the peak power demand breached the 7,000 MW mark for the first time and reached 7,016 MW in July 2018. Noting that Delhi's peak power demand is substantially higher than that of other cities, the spokesperson said the national capital consumes more power than the combined demand of Mumbai and Chennai, and thrice that of Kolkata.

This expected peak power demand of 7,400 MW is an increase of over 250 per cent of the peak demand of 2879 MW in 2002.

In the areas of BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL), covering localities in south and west Delhi, the peak demand is expected to touch the 3,200 MW mark in 2019 as against 3,081 MW in 2018, the BSES spokesperson.

The peak demand in east and central Delhi areas supplied by BSES Yamuna Power Limitied (BYPL) may go up to 1,640 MW against the peak demand of 1,561 MW in 2018, he said.

"The BSES discoms are fully geared-up for the summer months and electricity from J&K, Manipur, Meghalaya and Sikkim to light-up Delhi homes," said the BSES spokesperson.

The north and north west Delhi areas supplied by Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL) are likely to have a peak power demand of 2,150 MW against 1,961 MW in 2018, said a spokesperson of TPDDL.

TPDDL CEO Sanjay Banga said that the discom has entered into long-term tie-ups to meet the demand.

"We are expecting the peak power demand to reach 2,150 MW in our area this summer. To meet this demand, we have long-term tie-ups amounting to around 2,000 MW and other arrangements up to 500 MW to ensure regular supply," Banga said.

The BSES discoms will get up to 865 MW (BRPL 550 MW, BYPL 315 MW) of power through banking arrangements. Apart from this, BRPL will also get 100 MW of wind power from April 2019.

He said of this 50 MW is already being received and in case of unforeseen contingencies because of low generation and outages in power plants, the discoms will purchase short-term power from the exchange.