Delhi’s power demand crosses 7,000 MW mark, at year’s peak

The scorching heat pushed Delhi’s peak power demand to 7,070 megawatts (MW) on Thursday, the year’s highest so far and a record for May, largely due to an increase in the usage of cooling appliances in view of the higher-than-normal daily temperatures, power discom officials said.

The previous high for the month was 6,780MW, on May 13 this year. This is the fifteenth time in the 20 days of May that the national capital’s peak power demand has crossed the 6,000MW-mark, officials said. The peak demand on Friday evening was recorded at 6,943MW, which is also likely to shoot past 7,000MW around midnight.

This was to be expected as the mercury shot up across the Capital on Thursday after a three-day spell of relatively cooler weather, with parts of Delhi touching the 46-degree mark, according to the India Meteorological Department. Safdarjung, Delhi’s base station for weather, recorded a maximum temperature of 43.6 degrees Celsius – three degrees above normal– as both Mungeshpur and Najafgarh recorded highs of 46.3 degrees Celsius, making them the hottest locations across the city, followed by Pitampura at 45.8 degrees Celsius.