During the current power crisis triggered in part by the rising demand during the heat wave conditions in the country, renewable energy has stepped up to the rescue, a senior official stated on Thursday.
On Tuesday, the maximum pan-Indian power demand was met and the record for the highest electricity supply in a single day passed the 201-GW mark. It beat last year’s record 200.539 GW total supply on July 7, 2021.
Ghanshyamprasad, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Power, addressed the WRI India event. He stated that renewable energy had come to the rescue of India’s electricity system during the recent demand surge and supply crisis. The support received from solar at that time was 31 GW.
Prasad stated that electricity accounts for only 18% of the country’s energy mix and is a way to increase its share.
The WRI India organized a workshop in Delhi on Thursday to assist electricity distribution companies (discoms), retain their fast-moving commercial and industrial customers, reduce losses, and increase renewable energy demand.
This workshop was designed to explore opportunities in existing regulations, address problems, and identify scale- and retrofit measures, so that discoms can offer more renewable energy to their consumers.
Representatives from several disoms, central government officials, and policy makers attended the workshop.
Letha Tawney (Commissioner, Oregon Public Utilities Commission) shared a perspective from the US. “When key account mangers started to understand how important renewable energy is to large corporate buyers, and started getting educated about the opportunities, new options began to open up and some utilities realized it was important meet the customer.”
