Delhi's peak power demand breaches 7,000 MW: BSES

With rains continuing to be elusive, peak power demand in Delhi broke all records on Tuesday to breach the 7,000 megawatt (MW) mark and touch the high of 7,016 MW a little before 3.30 p.m., Delhi electricity distribution company (discom) BSES said.

A BSES statement said that Tuesday's figure, which broke the previous record of 6,998 MW created on Monday, marks an increase of over 250 per cent over the peak power demand of 2,879 MW in 2002.

"This is the 11th time this year Delhi's peak power demand has surpassed last year's high of 6,526 MW," it said. 

"The peak power demand in BSES Rajdhani Power ltd's (BRPl) area of south and west Delhi, today (Tuesday), clocked 3,081 MW and 1,561 MW in BSES Yamuna Power ltd's (BYPl) area of central and east Delhi. 

According to the discom, Delhi's peak power demand is substantially more than that of several cities and states. 

"It is more than the power demand of Mumbai and Chennai put together and thrice than that of Kolkata," it said

"The fact that the city's power demand is consistently crossing the 6,500 MW mark shows the robustness of the capital's distribution and transmission system, which has been able to measure up. 

"This has been possible on the back of an advanced distribution network and massive reduction in AT & C (aggregate technical and commercial) losses," it added.

The BSES discoms have invested substantial resources to strengthen the network for taking additional power load during summer months, the statement said.

"During the year, BSES discoms have invested heavily to further improve and augment this network by adding new grid substations, power transformers, laying new feeders, shifting overhead lines underground and setting-up new distribution transformers among others," it said.

"BSES discoms continued to invest heavily in the network and deployed a capex of over Rs 900 crore during FY 2017-2018. At the back of several technological deployments, capacity addition is of over 900 MVA (mega volt ampere)," it added. 

To meet the unprecedented demand, the two BSES discoms have taken measures like long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) and banking arrangements with various states, as well as with neighbouring Bhutan.