The country’s power grid struggled to fully meet peak daytime electricity demand for the first time this summer, with a shortage of 188 MW when demand hit a record 270 GW on Thursday.
The Grid Controller of India reported the shortfall on Thursday afternoon. The power ministry urged citizens on Friday to use electricity wisely and judiciously amid rising demand from heatwave conditions.
Daytime supply had remained stable earlier this summer due to solar generation. Night-time shortages occurred on multiple days last week, reaching 2.5 GW on Thursday.
As of May 20, 23 GW of coal- and nuclear-based capacity was under forced outage. Experts noted the need for more baseload capacity and energy storage as renewable additions outpace thermal plants.
