New Delhi: The Union government will take all possible measures to meet the single-day peak demand of 230 gigawatt (GW) expected in April 2023, Power Secretary Alok Kumar told news agency PTI. R K Singh, Union Power Minister held a meeting on Wednesday to review the preparations for the high electricity demand expected in April next year.
Top officials from the ministry, including the Chairperson of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) Ghanshyam Prasad, were part of the meeting.
Power Secretary told PTI that in the meeting two parameters for the electricity demand were discussed on which the government will work. He said, first it will be ensured that there is enough power generation capacity, and for that companies have been directed to carry out maintenance work of their plants so there is no issue at that time.
The second aspect discussed at the meeting was to increase the production and dispatch of coal as much as possible. In this regard, review meetings are being held with ministries of coal and railways on a regular basis, he added.
The demand in April next year could be as high as 230 GW, according to Kumar. As per official data, the maximum all-India power demand met at 2:51 pm on April 26, this year was 201.066 GW, the report said.
On the question regarding the options of coal imports to remain open to maintain the supply, Kumar said, “We (government) will do whatever we will have to do to ensure continuous power supply (in April).”
To avoid a coal shortage in monsoon season, the power minister, earlier this year, asked state power generation companies to import 10 per cent of coal requirement for blending purposes. The government also lifted the entire quantity of coal offered under rail-cum-road (RCR) mode rapidly to build coal stock.