Electricity produced by thermal power plants in March 2019 recorded a drop of 0.9% year-on-year (y-o-y), making it the third straight month when power electricity generated from these sources was lower than the corresponding period last year. However, thanks to the surge in power demand recorded around October, overall thermal generation in FY19 grew by 3.4% to 1,072 billion units. Utilisation levels of thermal generating stations in FY19 showed a tepid rise with plant load factor (PLF) rising just by 1.2 percentage points to 61%.
As reported by FE earlier, peak power demand of the country breached the 180 GW mark in October— the first time in history—when electricity consumed in the country was 14% higher than the corresponding month last year.
