NEW DELHI: For the first time since the Covid-19 outbreak and subsequent lockdowns brought power demand crashing down late March, power output in India registered a growth during the first fortnight of August.
According to provisional power output data released by state-run POSOCO’s National Load Despatch Centre, the amount of energy met by India’s power generation system between August 1-15 stood at 54,990 million units (MU)—around 1.6 per cent higher than the 54,092 MU generated during the same period of the previous year.
A 1.6 per cent growth may not seem like much, but compared to the output recorded over the past five month, the shift into positive territory shows that the economy is steadily clawing its way back to where it was before the pandemic hit.
After having most of industrial power demand taken out of the picture in April, the subsequent unlocking exercise carried out by the government has resulted in a steady improvement. After recording a 14.3 per cent fall in May, the gap between the previous year’s level and the post-pandemic reality has narrowed — to a 9.9 per cent decline in June and a 1.8 per cent decline in July.
According to Fitch Ratings, India’s power demand is likely to fall by around 4 per cent in the current financial year (2020-21), compared to a flat demand trajectory seen over the previous two fiscals (FY19
and FY20). “Power demand fell by 16 per cent year-on-year during April-June 2020. The lower demand mostly affected coal-fired plants, with plant load factors declining by 10 percentage points yoy to 52 per cent in the first half of 2020, while the must-run status of renewable power generation limited offtake curtailment,” the agency noted.