While the average growth of energy requirement in the country for 2023-24 viz-a-viz 2022-23 has been estimated as 4.9%, the months of April and May have been projected as high demand period. During the current year, the peak demand is expected to be around 229 GW during the summer period. The government has taken a series of steps to meet the increased demand for power, union minister of power R. K. Singh told Lok Sabha on Thursday.

Measures have been taken to ensure the availability of the generation capacity. The generators have been directed to complete the maintenance work of their plants well before the period of high demand. No planned maintenance   will be taken during the high demand period (April & May 2023).

(1) Monitoring and coordination with the ministries of coal and railways, on a regular basis, for increase in the production and dispatch of coal as much as possible.

(2) All Power Generators have been asked for timely import of required coal for blending purposes so that adequate coal stock is maintained in the plant.

(3) All captive coal blocks have been asked to maximize the coal production to supplement the coal supply from domestic coal companies (CIL and SCCL).

(4) Additional arrangement for gas for running gas based stations has been planned from GAIL, during high power demand months.

(5) Imported coal based (ICB) plants have been issued statutory directions to stock coal and generate power during high demand period.

Also read: Multi-pronged strategy crafted to ensure power supply during summer

https://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/multipronged-strategy-crafted-to-ensure-power-supply-during-summer