Power supply gets better as Delhi cools

NEW DELHI: After days of searing heat, rain and improvement in power transmission brought relief to the residents of the national capital on Thursday. Peak power demand in Delhi came down by 217 MW from 5,470 MW—the highest this season—on Wednesday.

“The weather condition is better and due to reduction of temperature the demand for power was reduced. On supply side, there is sufficient availability of power within Delhi,” the Delhi government said in a statement. “Two gas turbine units of Pragati Power’s Bawana plant are producing power.”

According to Praveer Sinha, CEO of Tata Power Delhi Distribution, about 1.4 million consumers in his distribution areas in north and north-west Delhi received consistent power supply.

BSES Yamuna Power, which had planned to cut supplies by 60-70 MW in East Delhi, had to snap only 15 MW of power.

However, BSES Rajdhani Power may have to stick to its original plan of 150 mw of load shedding in Dwaraka, Nazafgarh, Uttam Nagar and Panka Road, according to the power distribution company. Political parties, however, continued to protest against power outages that have thrown city life out of gear.

After government-owned Delhi Transco Ltd’s power transmission network was damaged in a thunderstorm on May 30, power supply from Delhi’s three distribution firms have become erratic.

According to the Delhi government, minister of state for power, Piyush Goyal visited the project site of Maharanibagh-Gazipur 220KV line to check the progress of work there.

Power Grid Corp’s chairman and managing director RN Nayak, who accompanied Goyal, assured him that the transmission line would be ready by the targeted date