Though Sunday’s rain has brought some relief from the extreme temperature and a respite in the high demand for power in the Capital, Power Department officials on said the worst for power is not over. The monsoon is expected to set in extreme humidity increasing the consumption level as well, the officials said.
The power demand in the city has been increasing at a rate of around eight per cent over the last few years and the government had projected it to touch 6,000 MW this summer.
The rain brought down the demand for power from 5,572 MW on Saturday to 5,380 MW on Sunday. It was a respite from the all-time high consumption on Friday. The demand for power, which was going up substantially every day since the past one week, broke all records on Friday, touching an all-time high of 5,810 MW.
On Thursday, Delhi’s hunger for power soared to 5,789 MW, breaking last year’s all-time high of 5,653 MW.
“But taking into account the usual trend every year, we are all prepared for a situation where the demand may go up. Usually, the humidity which follows the rain becomes the reason to take the consumption to record-high levels. This was the situation last year when on June 6 the demand for power breached all previous records, touching 5,653 MW,” said a department official.
Due to rise in demand over the past four days, many areas in have been witnessing power cuts ranging from one to two hours and in certain areas like Okhla, Uttam Nagar, Dwarka for five to six hours.
The rising demand for power comes on the heels of Delhi being announced as the second most populated city on the planet. When asked if the city administration was ready to meet any further increase in the demand for electricity, the Power Secretary has been claiming that agencies dealing with the power situation are all set to meet any challenge. “The demand has grown substantially over the years. The power demand this year broke last year’s record. But we are all geared up to meet even the expected increase in the demand for power,” he said while talking to The Hindu .
While discom sources conceded that the power situation has improved in the Capital, they also said challenges remain as transmission and distribution network need to be overhauled radically.
“The May 30 storm clearly exposed how vulnerable the city’s transmission network is. It needs to be urgently improved if we do not want that kind of power crisis again. With the Centre allocating Rs.200 crore in the Union Budget, we expect that the transmission system would be augmented,” a senior discom official added.
