Several coal-fired power plants postpone maintenance to meet power demand

NEW DELHI: Several coal-fired power plants with a combined capacity of 10 gigawatts (GW) have deferred planned maintenance by three months to meet the country’s power needs, the government said on Friday, while additional load at the distribution level is expected to be as high as 27 GW due to a switch to induction cookers due to tight LPG supplies due to military conflict in West Asia.Piyush Singh, additional secretary at the power ministry, told reporters that of the 15 GW of capacity originally planned to be maintained, 10 GW will continue to operate to make up for the nearly 8 GW of gas-fired power plants that have been idled due to supply shortages and meet the surge in demand during the summer. Power plants undergo planned shutdowns for maintenance and repair of mechanical wear and tear. Previously, the state-owned oil company also postponed annual refinery closures due to the current geopolitical situation and its impact on energy supplies.The Ministry of Power will also accelerate the addition of 22 GW of power generation capacity in the next three months, including thermal power, solar power, wind power, hydropower, batteries and pumped hydropower, he added.Director-General of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) Krushna Chandra Panigrahy said people turning to induction cookers due to pressure on cooking gas cylinders may create an “additional layer of demand” during morning and evening peak hours. However, accurate demand estimates are difficult due to differences in usage patterns across regions due to differences in climate, socioeconomic conditions and cooking habits, he added.“…consensus estimates of additional demand from induction cooking range from 13 GW to 27 GW under low and high adoption scenarios, respectively,” Panigrahy said, adding that a significant impact on demand remains to be seen.Singh said India’s peak power demand could reach 271 gigawatts this summer and that despite global uncertainty, the system was “robust, diversified and well positioned” to meet both short- and long-term demand requirements. “India’s current installed capacity is over 531 GW, reflecting its diversified portfolio with significant contributions from coal, renewables, hydropower and nuclear, with over 50 per cent non-fossil energy,” he said.Keeping adequate coal stocks at thermal power plants and fully operating imported coal-fired power plants are among the short-term measures taken by the government to meet peak demand, Singh said.