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The demand for electricity in India has seen a surge since the lockdown to curb the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak was lifted three months ago.
Power generation for August 2020, however, was 13 per cent lower on year-on-year basis. About one-third came from non-fossil fuel based energy sources.
Sanjiv Sahai, secretary, Union Ministry of Power, tweeted:
Electricity generation in India follows a seasonal pattern. The share of electricity sourced from non-fossil-fuels — including renewable energy, hydro energy and nuclear energy — usually peaks during the summer season, especially the monsoon months.
India’s electricity generation in the past year
|
Fossil Fuel |
Non-fossil Fuel |
Total Generation (MU) |
|||
|
Thermal (in %) |
RE (in %) |
Nuclear (in %) |
Hydro* (in %) |
||
|
July 2019 |
70.8 |
12.2 |
3.5 |
13.5 |
123,467 |
|
Aug |
67.7 |
11.0 |
3.6 |
17.7 |
119,351 |
|
Sep |
69.2 |
7.8 |
3.7 |
19.3 |
114,098 |
|
Oct |
75.2 |
6.0 |
4.1 |
14.7 |
105,259 |
|
Nov |
78.8 |
7.2 |
3.8 |
10.2 |
100,944 |
|
Dec |
79.9 |
8.2 |
3.4 |
8.4 |
108,000 |
|
Jan 2020 |
81.0 |
8.1 |
3.1 |
7.8 |
112,079 |
|
Feb-20 |
81.2 |
8.2 |
2.9 |
7.7 |
110,037 |
|
Mar-20 |
78.6 |
8.9 |
3.8 |
8.7 |
105,416 |
|
Apr-20 |
74.0 |
10.3 |
4.3 |
11.5 |
90,311 |
|
May-20 |
71.7 |
11.1 |
3.5 |
13.6 |
108,601 |
|
Jun-20 |
69.3 |
11.2 |
3.3 |
16.2 |
112,774 |
|
Jul-20 |
71.2 |
9.8 |
2.8 |
16.2 |
120,055 |
|
Aug-20 |
67.3 |
11.8 |
3.0 |
17.9 |
103,404 |
Source: Central Electricity Authority online archives; *Includes import from Bhutan
The share of fossil-fuel-based sources dips during the summer months and hovers below 70 per cent. Electricity demand surges in summers which is met by increased generation from hydro-electric plants and supported by renewable energy.
In case of a drop in power demand, the generation from fossil-fuel based plants is restricted, as they have the largest share. Renewables enjoy a ‘must-run’ status in the country, which is also a reason for soaring RE share in the total generation during the last few months.
To ensure an uninterrupted operation of renewables during last few months, the Union government took a host of actions, including the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s (MNRE) instruction to discoms for clearing bills of RE generators.
India’s electricity generation mix. Data Source: Central Electricity Authority online archives
The figure above shows the changing electricity supply characteristics from July 2019 to August 2020 on a monthly basis. For August 2020, the share of non-fossil fuel electricity was about 33 per cent, a notch higher than 32 per cent of August 2019. This can be attributed to the reduced overall generation due to COVID-19 slowdown.
The renewable energy generation in August 2020 was 13,874 mega unit (MU) as compared to 13,151 MU in August 2019, which is only a 5.4 per cent increment on a year-on-year assessment.