India’s power supply deficit stood at 0.5% during the six months between April and September 2019, according to the Central Electricity Authority (CEA).

During these six months, 683,389 million units (MUs) of energy was supplied against a demand of 687,107 MUs, leading to a deficit of 3,719 MUs. The supply deficit and peak power deficit for the six months stood at 0.5% and 0.7%, respectively.

Further, in the six months ending September 2019, the north-eastern region faced the largest peak power supply deficit of 3.6%, followed by the northern region at 1%.

The north-eastern region also faced the highest peak supply deficit of 4.9%, followed by the northern region at 1.3%.

As far as power generation is concerned, all regions of the country saw a growth except southern India, which saw a decline of 0.38% when compared to the year 2018. The power imported from Bhutan increased by 10.89% compared to the same period (April-September) last year.

This year, there was a significant improvement in the power supply position and peak power deficit numbers when compared to the same period in 2018, especially for the western, southern, and eastern regions.

During the first quarter (Q1) of the financial year (FY) 2019-20, India’s power supply increased slightly with the power deficit declining to 0.4% from the 0.6% recorded during the Q1 of FY 2018-19, according to the data provided by the CEA.

Last year, Mercom reported that India recorded an overall average power supply deficit of 0.6% during the six months between April to September 2018, according to the CEA. During this period, 654,153 MU of energy was supplied against a demand of 657,999 MU leading to a deficit of 3,846 MU. The supply deficit, as well as peak power deficit for the six-month period, stood at 0.6%.

According to the Ministry of Power’s “Vision 2024” document, the power demand in India is expected to grow in the foreseeable future, and the supply will struggle to keep pace with it. Also, the construction of new thermal power plants will taper off with more projects being added from renewable energy sources, leading to temporal mismatches and may cause some reliability issues in the power system.

However, on the ground, solar power curtailment is rampant in many states.

Shaurya is a staff reporter at MercomIndia.com with experience working in the Indian solar energy industry for the past four years in various roles. Prior to joining Mercom, Shaurya worked with a renewable energy developer and a consulting company. Shaurya holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Management from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom.