NEW DELHI: As Delhi recorded the season’s lowest temperature, the peak power demand also reached a record high of 5,247 MW on Thursday morning. According to the state load dispatch centre’s data, the peak power demand of the city clocked 5,247 MW at 10.56 am, which is the highest so far this winter.Senior discom officials said that the heating load, which includes geysers and heaters, accounts for 50% of the city’s power demand in winters. Delhi’s plummeting temperatures are pushing the city’s peak power demand up, they added.According to the data, Delhi’s peak power demand surpassed the demand witnessed during the winters of the previous two years. During the winters of 2022 and 2021, the peak power demand was 5,104 and 5,021, respectively.A senior BSES official said that the company would ensure uninterrupted supply despite high demands. “BSES is also receiving 840 MW of solar power from SECI, 439 MW of wind power, and 25 MW from waste-to-energy. It is further getting 127 MW of solar power with the help of the panels installed on rooftops in south, west, east and central Delhi areas,” he added.A cold wave swept Delhi on Thursday with the minimum temperature dropping to three degrees Celsius—the lowest in January in two years—making it cooler than several hill stations.Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL), which supplies power in several parts of Delhi, also registered a record peak demand of 1,646 MW on Thursday, said a company spokesperson on Thursday.“TPDDL successfully met the record peak power demand of 1,646 MW today without any network constraint and power outage amid cold wave conditions,” he added.“The company is expecting the peak demand to breach the 1,660-MW mark this season and has made long-term power tie-ups for meeting the same and has ensured reliability of its equipment at these low temperatures and foggy conditions.”According to the data, Delhi’s peak power demand this winter can go up to 5,500 MW, surpassing the peak winter demand of the last couple of years. Last year, it had peaked at 5104 MW and 5021 in 2020. The peak winter power demand in BRPL and BYPL areas had reached 2,140 MW and 1,122 MW, respectively, during the last winter. This year, it is expected to reach 2,289 MW and 1,159 MW for BRPL and BYPL, respectively.Earlier, November and December months of 2022 saw the city’s peak power demand being more than that of previous two years. The peak power demand was 4,964 MW in December 2022 and 3,941 MW in November 2022.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/delhi-shivers-peak-power-demand-beats-record-of-last-two-winters/articleshow/96774185.cms