India’s power demand this year has jumped by a record 40,000-45,000 MW per day as an intense heat wave sweeps through northern parts of the country, the economy expands, and electricity reaches millions of unelectrified homes, Power Minister RK Singh has said.
A massive addition in the generation capacity, integrating the country into one transmission grid and strengthening of the distribution system during eight years of the Modi government is ensuring the 23 to 23.5 hours of electricity supply, he said in an interview with PTI.
India’s electricity demand on June 9 was recorded at an all-time high of 2,10,792 megawatts, and 4,712 million units of electricity were consumed.
Power plants are operating at full throttle to meet this demand, and the government has ordered coal import to meet the shortfall in domestic supplies.
“The whole power sector has changed (in last 8 years),” Singh said. “Before (2014), we were power deficit, load shedding was endemic”.
According to a survey by an NGO, the average availability of power in rural areas was about 12.5 hours at the national level. “Today it is 22.5 hours,” he said.
A power deficit nation with an average shortage of anywhere between 17 and 20 per cent, India has been transformed into a power surplus country.
Detailing the steps, he said in 8 years, 1,69,000 MW of capacity was added to take electricity generation capacity to over 4,00,000 MW (or 400 gigawatts).