Power Ministry is gearing up to meet India’s surging electricity demand during the peak summer months, April-June 2025, with expectations that consumption may surpass 450 billion units (BU) and peak demand scale 270 gigawatts (GW).
Government officials explained how they are preparing to meet the country’s rising demand for power. “Demand is growing at around 5.5-6 per cent per annum due to rising household consumption, particularly cooling, and growing industrial and commercial base. Accordingly, the Ministries of Power, Coal and Railways have made preparations,” a top official said.
The requirement of supplies will also be higher compared to 2024 and preparations are on keeping in view the anticipated growth, he added.
During April-June 2024, India recorded its longest spell of heat waves in history with the power sector meeting a record peak demand of 250 GW. Consumption stood at a high of 452 BU, while coal demand grew at around 7.30 per cent Y-o-Y—also an all time high. However, the Ministry was able to contain the power deficit at levels of 0.2-0.4 per cent.
Preparing for summers
Last week, Power Secretary Pankaj Agarwal said: “We have already invited a tender for procuring gas for 1800 megawatt (MW) capacity. Target is to finalise it in a month.”
On coal stocks, he said Ministry is in the “best position compared to the last many years”.
“We already have around 21 days of stock. It is not concentrated in some stations, but well distributed. We need to compliment Railways and Coal for transporting coal to our stations efficiently even during the ongoing Maha Kumbh,” Agarwal noted.
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Since October 2024, the Coal Ministry has consistently enhanced output, which can be seen from the Output per Man Shift (OMS)—a measure to calculate production efficiency.
For instance, the output per man shift during December 2024 rose by 22 per cent Y-o-Y to almost 17.98 tonnes. During September, October and November 2024, the OMS stood at 10.43 tonnes, 13.33 tonnes, and 14.17 tonnes, respectively.
India’s overall coal production increased by 1.78 per cent Y-o-Y to 621.15 mt during April-January FY25, while despatch to the Power sector rose 4.40 per cent Y-o-Y to 694.73 mt.
Railways has also increased its momentum. The average rakes per day stood at 269.50 during October 2024, which rose to 276.90, 290.50 and 294.30 rakes per day in November 2024, December 2024 and January 2025, respectively.
Maintaining stocks
An official with the National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC) said, the winters (January 2025) were milder compared to last year, and it reflects in power consumption. Expectations are that demand will start rising during the first or second week of March and will follow the usual progression.
“We are awaiting more projections from the weather department on whether heat waves will be like last year and how high will the mercury go. Accordingly, more preparations will be made to handle additional load due to cooling,” he explained.
As per last year’s statistics and rising incremental demand, India will require more than 235 mt of coal and around 100 million standard cubic meters per day (MSCMD) of natural gas to meet the electricity consumption on the part of the TPPs during April-June 2025.
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Total coal consumption by TPPs during the first nine months of FY25 is already higher by 4 per cent Y-o-Y to 658.8 mt.
As of February 20, 2025, India’s coal stocks at domestic coal-based thermal power plants (TPPs) stood at 50.83 mt, with a daily consumption of 2.69 mt, sufficient for more than 19 days.
During April-June 2024, TPPs cumulatively consumed more than 233 mt of coal, including imported stocks, and recorded a capacity utilisation, or plant load factor, of 76.21 per cent. Gas consumption stood at over 97 MSCMD with a PLF of record 25.8 per cent in the same period.
Total generation by TPPs during April-June 2024 stood at a little over 372 BU, against a consumption of 452 BU. The remaining was met by renewables and nuclear power.