Gujarat: Peak power demand may cross 17K MW

With Mercury level soaring, peak power demand in the state crossed 16,810 MW on Monday, the highest this summer so far, and is poised to touch 17,000 MW before the onset of rains in the next fortnight.

According to the State Load Despatch Centre, it catered maximum power demand of 16,810.57 MW at 3:00 pm on Monday in the state. The demand was over 700 MW more than the previous day when peak demand was recorded at 16,073 MW. Last week, peak power demand had touched 16,297 MW for a day, before falling below 16,000 level.

Energy expert KK Bajaj said that peak power demand is likely to cross 17,000 MW over the next couple of days.

“Power demand will peak before arrival of monsoon, which is expected by middle of June,” Bajaj said.

Incidentally, strong wind velocity has led to a big rise in electricity generation through windmills. Bajaj said that wind energy catered maximum demand of 3,280 MW on Monday.

“High generation of wind energy is good for consumers. Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited will have to buy less power from Indian Energy Exchange and other expensive sources, which means less burden on consumers,” he said.

Bajaj said that from over 2,000 MW, GUVNL has reduced power drawal from the Exchange by almost 50% to 1,000 MW for the past couple of days. Power prices on the Exchange vary from Rs4.25 per unit to as high as Rs10 depending on the time slot, but wind energy costs Rs3.76 per unit.

According to Bajaj, Torrent Power, which distributes electricity in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, and Surat, recorded power demand of 2,310 MW at 4:00 pm on Tuesday. This included 1,600 MW for Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar, and 700 MW in Surat.