Power demand peaks at 3987 MW | Latest News Delhi - Hindustan Times
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Power demand peaks at 3987 MW

None | By, New Delhi
Jul 03, 2008 11:49 PM IST

The mercury touched an unseasonable 38.4 degrees Celsius, the demand for electricity shot up to this year’s highest at 3987 MW, reports HT Correspondent.

The continued dry spell in the weather has started showing in the soaring power demand in the Capital. On Thursday, when the mercury touched an unseasonable 38.4 degrees Celsius, the demand for electricity shot up to this year’s highest at 3987 MW.

HT Image
HT Image

At a time when it should be raining, keeping the demand for electricity in check, the untimely heat is making Delhiites go all out with their power guzzling, cooling-apparatus, like airconditioners, and coolers.

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But surprisingly, the Capital, which routinely pulls all stops to get power from wherever possible, could manage this steep demand without much outage.

Thanks to a relatively healthy figure of 1137 MW generation in its own plants, including the Badarpur station, steady supply from Naphtha Jakhri in Himachal, and around 260 MW of overdrawing from the Northern Grid during the peak demand, major shortfall could be avoided. That apart, supply from Orissa and Uttaranchal, too, ensured that Delhi’s power guzzling continues without breaks.

“There were not many under-frequency relays to speak of so there were no instances tripping as well,” said a Power Department official. This was almost like a repeat of last year’s highest peak demand of 4030 MW, which, too, was met without much outage. “However, if temperature does not come down, then we will be forced into meeting summer-like peak demand in the middle of monsoon,” he added.

Some areas in North, South and East Delhi faced power-cuts of varied lengths, but the distcoms claimed that they were the result of maintenance work and were announced beforehand.

The weather, meanwhile, continued to play spoilsport, unleashing summer-like heat in the middle of monsoon.

“Isolated rainfall is likely over West Uttar Pradesh. Delhi’s wait will be longer still,” said an official of National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF). The minimum temperature was nearly 30 degrees Celsius with 87 per cent relative humidity in the surface-air. “But the requisite humidity to form clouds is not arriving. It is pouring in East UP, where it rained 6 cm on Thursday. But Delhi will have to wait in the rising heat,” said an official of the Met department.

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