The Power Ministry had estimated India’s peak demand to be in the range of 270 GW in the current fiscal year
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JOTHI RAMALINGAM B
India’s peak power demand met during the day hit 267.45 gigawatts (GW) late in the afternoon on Friday, which now is the second highest growth in usage on record.
The high of 267.45 GW recorded at 1529 hours is lower than the all-time high of 270.82 GW recorded on Thursday. However, it is higher than the usage recorded during Monday to Wednesday.
The surge in demand is attributed to higher usage of cooling appliances on account of the prevailing weather conditions across the country, creating an outlier with electricity demand during solar hours breaking all records for four consecutive days.
The week beginning May 17thhas witnessed the mercury crossing 47 Degree Celsius with heat waves baking large parts of east, central, northwest and peninsular India. This is expected to continue in the next week.
The demand was successfully met with coal contributing 63.16 per cent, followed by solar (22.11 per cent), hydro (5.64 per cent), wind (5.54 per cent) and nuclear (2.66 per cent) power.
India’s peak power demand during solar hours hit a record 260 GW on Tuesday, surpassing the 257 GW record made on Monday. However, it surpassed 265 GW on Wednesday, and hit an all-time high record of 270 GW on Thursday.
The Power Ministry had estimated India’s peak demand to be in the range of 270 GW in the current fiscal year.
Coal reserves at TPP end of a little over 50.83 million tonnes (mt) on May 21, against a daily consumption of roughly 3.10 mt. This is for a cumulative coal-based capacity of around 223 GW. Out of this, domestic coal based (DCB) plants with 203 GW installed capacity have stocks of 48.3 mt, with a daily requirement of 2.9 mt. Imported coal-based (ICB) plants (18.78 GW capacity) have stocks of 2.59 mt, with a daily requirement of 1.96 lakh tonnes.
Published on May 22, 2026
