The Capital registered its highest demand for power so far this season on Monday. The peak load on the system was 4,581 MW, much higher than the last peak of 4,408 MW recorded on July 8 last year. The demand for power in the city has shown a steady rise, especially with the onset of an early summer this year.
“There has been a steep rise in the demand for power on account of the heat. This year the summer set in early and the temperatures rose abnormally. And when temperatures rise, the demand rises too. But this year the peak load has crossed 4,500 MW in May, which is early,” said a senior Power Department official.
Over the years the peak load has been recorded in the months of June and July, but it is for the first time that the demand has soared so high in May. “It is manifestation of global warming as well as a fallout of a steady increase in population. Also right now a lot of work related to the Commonwealth Games is under way, which has added to the city's consumption for power,” said an official.
The maximum peak was recorded at 2-52 p.m. While Power Department officials as well the discoms said the peak load was met without too much difficulty and load-shedding and rotational load-shedding was carried out at a few place in West Delhi, in North Delhi and some parts of Vasant Kunj in South Delhi.
According to sources, Civil Lines in the NDPL area was affected for a large part of the day after a Delhi Transco transformer at Sabzi Mandi developed a snag because of overloading. Tripping of another transformer too resulted in power cuts in the area.
In the BSES-fed areas, West Delhi and Vasant Kunj also faced power cuts for a couple of hours on account of the system getting overloaded.
“There was no major fault in the system, nor was load-shedding rampant or for longer duration. In some places transmission lines have been shut down to carry out construction work linked to the Commonwealth Games. That has affected supply to some extent, but all arrangements have been made to provide supply to the areas affected by the closure. A 220 kV transmission line has been shutdown for the construction of a metro line in Sarita Vihar and another 220 kV line is closed for construction of the elevated road over Barahpulla Nullah,” said the official.
The maximum temperature recorded on Monday was 43.4 degrees Celsius, while the minimum was 30.2 degrees. The maximum was up by two degrees, while the minimum was up by three degrees. A Meteorological Department official said the city will continue to sizzle for the next few days as there are no chances of rain.
