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India's power demand hit all-time high of 200.57 GW on July 7, says govt
The power consumption had dipped across the country due to lockdowns - both in the first and second wave of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. The economic activity was impacted due to lockdowns, which in turn led to fall in energy demand.
India witnessed its highest ever demand of 200570 MW (or 200.57 GW) for power at on July 7, the Union power ministry said in a release on Tuesday. The figure is based on the system operations highlights for July 2021, put out by the Power System Operation Corporation Ltd (POSOCO), the ministry added.
This number was 17.6 per cent higher than the country's demand for power in July last year, according to power ministry.
The POSOCO report also showed that average energy consumption per day recorded in July this year was 10.6 per cent higher than the figures in July last year.
India has been pushing for use of green energy sources, and in this regard, renewable energy sector saw impressive gains in the month of July, the ministry said.
"Average solar generation recorded in Jul’21 (158MU/day) was 7.6% higher than in Jul’20 (147MU/day). Average wind generation recorded in Jul’21 (349MU/day) was 64.5% higher than in Jul’20 (212MU/day). Additionally, solar and wind generation recorded an all-time high of 43.1 GW on 27th July 2021. Earlier, the record was 41.1 GW on 11th Jun’21," the ministry said in the release.
The power consumption had dipped across the country due to lockdowns - both in the first and second wave of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. The economic activity was impacted due to lockdowns, which in turn led to fall in energy demand.
Power consumption had recorded a 4.6 per cent year-on-year growth in September 2020 and 11.6 per cent in October 2020. In November 2020, the power consumption growth slowed to 3.12 per cent, mainly due to the early onset of winters. In December 2020, power consumption grew by 4.5 per cent while it was up 4.4 per cent in January 2021.
