The Union Ministry of Power has directed all states, their power distribution companies (discoms) and central and state generating companies (gencos) to meet the rising electricity demand that has crossed a record 241 gigawatts (Gw) last week.

       In a note circulated to all stakeholders including state governments, the ministry has asked them to take necessary steps to ensure supply to electricity consumers.

       The ministry said that states were not able to meet demand when it reached record levels during non-solar hours (hours when solar power is not generated)

       “Overall, the demand not met during non-solar hours crossed 10 Gw and during August, the energy shortage was of the order of 700 million units (MUs). It is noticed that the bulk of the shortfall in meeting the demand has been in the non-solar hours — when the shortfall ranged from 6-9 Gw. During solar hours, the demand was met. Even when the demand was 241 Gw, the shortfall was only 0.1 per cent,” said the note.

       The note highlighted the sub-optimal monsoon, which had impacted hydro and wind power generation. With gas-based generation also on the lower side, the entire onus of electricity supply during non-solar hours was falling on coal, said the note.

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       The power ministry’s eight-point note said it had taken several measures to meet increased power demand. These include coal import, maximising production in the captive coal mines of gencos, additional gas arrangements, and reservoir monitoring for optimising hydro generation.

       The ministry has further asked states to shift their agricultural load to solar hours and fire up coal units that are not running at full capacity. It has directed the states to import coal for such units. It has also asked them to offer on exchanges the power that they do not schedule under the power purchase agreements. The ministry has also directed the states to expedite commissioning of new thermal, solar and wind units.

       Business Standard had recently reported on the widening energy supply deficit in several states. While experts have pointed to a lack of necessary transmission infrastructure and paying capacity as the reason, the ministry’s note has not addressed this point.