Anticipating a harsher winter this year, DISCOMs have estimated that the national capital’s power demand will go up to 5,400 MW, surpassing the peak winter demand in the previous two years, officials said.
Last year, Delhi’s peak power demand in winter had peaked to 5,021 MW and in 2019 it was 5,343 MW, DISCOM officials said.
BSES spokesperson said the peak winter power demand in BRPL and BYPL areas had reached 2,091 MW and 1,107 MW respectively during last winter. This year, it is expected to reach 2,315 MW and 1,140 MW for BRPL and BYPL respectively.
Accurate demand (load) forecasting is critical for reliable power supply. It is done on various parameters like day-ahead, intra-day basis and medium term (from a fortnight to one year). Among other aspects, weather parameters like temperature, rainfall, cloud coverage, wind speed and direction, and humidity play an important role in accurate demand forecast, officials said.
Ensuring reliable power supply in any season is as much the function of proper power arrangements as also accurate demand forecast and robust distribution network.
On all these aspects, BSES DISCOMs are fully geared to ensure adequate power availability for its around 46 lakh consumers during the winter months, said the BSES spokesperson.
The backbone of BSES’ power-supply arrangements during the winter months include long-term agreements from power plants including hydro electric and Delhi-based gas fuelled generating stations, he said.
Additionally, BSES is also receiving over 440 MW of solar power from SECI, 250 MW of wind power, around 25 MW from waste-to energy generation. Besides, it is also being helped by over 118 MW of solar power panels installed on roof tops in South, West, East and Central Delhi, he added.