Delhi to face power crisis during heatwave? AAP govt concerned as coal shortage hits capital

The Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government has recently expressed concern over the power crisis situation that the national capital might face in the middle of the current heatwave, which might lead to power cuts in several areas of Delhi-NCR.

The Delhi government on Thursday expressed concern over the shortage of coal in the power plants that supply the electricity in the national capital, which is bound to create a power crisis soon. The AAP government has also reached out to the Centre for help.

Delhi Power Minister Satyendar Jain conducted an emergency meeting at the Secretariat to discuss the situation in the national capital and wrote a letter to the Centre, urging them to increase their coal supply to the union territory before a power crisis.

In a statement, Satyendra Jain said, “At present, there is a shortage of coal in various thermal stations supplying electricity. National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC)’s Dadri-II and Jhajjar (Aravalli), both power plants were established primarily to meet the power requirement in Delhi. However, there is very little stock of coal left even in these power plants.”

The AAP government also said that there are only a few days’ worths of coal stock left in the power plants of Delhi. There is only a day’s worth of coal stock in NTPC’s Dadri-II power plant and only a week’s worth in Jhajjar (Aravalli).

The Delhi government has further said that due to the shortage of coal in these power plants, there may be difficulties in supplying 24-hour power to many essential areas such as the Delhi Metro and hospitals in the national capital.

Further, there has been a significant increase in the power consumption of Delhi residents as for the first time ever, the national capital’s peak power demand clocked 6000 megawatt (MW), most likely due to the intense heatwave overtaking the city.

It is expected that the heatwave in Delhi will continue for a few days, with the maximum temperature for the day reaching as high as 44-46 degrees Celsius in several areas. 

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