Power demand in Delhi at year's peak with 7,334MW; nears record

Delhi has been going through a punishing heatwave over the past few weeks with the maximum temperature on Wednesday being recorded at 42.2 degrees Celsius, three degrees above normal.

The Capital clocked a peak power demand of 7,334MW on Wednesday -- the highest so far this year and the maximum ever recorded in June, senior power department officials said.

Before June 9 this year, Delhi’s peak power demand had never crossed the 7,000MW mark in June. (Reuters file)

“Today (Wednesday) at 3:35pm, the city’s peak power demand clocked the season’s highest of 7,334MW. It was also the highest ever in the month of June. Cooling load is the main reason behind Delhi’s increasing power load. In fact, according to estimates, almost around 50% of Delhi’s power demand in summers is because of the cooling load through ACs, desert coolers and fans,” said a senior power official.

Delhi has been going through a punishing heatwave over the past few weeks with the maximum temperature on Wednesday being recorded at 42.2 degrees Celsius, three degrees above normal.

The minimum temperature was recorded at 29.4 degrees, two notches above normal, according to India Meteorological data.

There has been little rain for the city this summer as well.

According to power department records, it is also the first time this year that the peak power demand has crossed the 7,000 MW in June. The peak single day demand for June last year was 6,921MW which was recorded on June 30. In 2020, the demand hit the peak of 6,314 MW on June 29 and in 2019, it was 6,769MW on June 29.

“In fact, before June 9 this year, Delhi’s peak power demand had never crossed the 7,000MW mark in June. However, on May 19 this year, it clocked 7,070MW. So far, it has already crossed 7,000MW six times in June this year and also once in May,” a senior power department official said.

Delhi has met an all-time high power demand of 7,409MW recorded on July 2, 2019.

This year, the government has projected that the peak demand may hit 8,200MW.

According to data, every single day of this month, Delhi’s power demand has crossed the 6000 MW. In 2021, it crossed the 6,000 MW mark only on nine occasions throughout the month; for five times in June 2020, and thrice in June 2019.