India faces high risks of power cuts
India faces a high risk of nighttime power cuts this summer and in next years, as delays in adding new coal-fired and hydropower capacity could limit the country's ability to address surging electricity demand when solar energy is not available.
A rapid addition of solar farms has helped India avert daytime supply gaps, but a shortage of coal-fired and hydropower capacity risks exposing millions to widespread outages at night, government data and internal documents reviewed, show.
India's power availability in 'non-solar hours' this April is expected to be 1.7 percent lower than peak demand - a measure of the maximum electricity requirement over any given time, an internal note by the federal grid regulator reviewed showed.
April nighttime peak demand is expected to hit 217 gigawatts (GW), up 6.4 percent on the highest nighttime levels recorded in April previous year.
'The situation is a little stressed,' Grid Controller of India Ltd (Grid-India) said in the note dated Feb 3.
While Indians looking to beat the heat this summer will want steady power for their air-conditioners, night time outage risks threaten industries that operate around the clock, including auto, electronics, steel bar and fertiliser manufacturing plants.
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