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Indian Express
19-05-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Power demand in May dips slightly as weather brings relief to grid managers
Power demand in the first half of May remained subdued as thunderstorms and rain tempered temperatures in India, with peak demand reaching 231 gigawatts (GW) between May 1 and 17—slightly below the 233 GW recorded in the same period last year. Forecasts of continued light rain and winds through May are expected to ease pressure on grid managers, who had anticipated significant shortages amid record demand. India consumed 82.1 billion units (BU) of electricity between May 1 and 17, slightly below the 83.8 BU recorded during the same period last year, according to data from the National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC). Peak demand this year was 231 GW on May 15, while the lowest—202 GW—was met on May 7. In comparison, peak demand last year touched 233 GW on May 6, with the lowest at 207 GW on May 12. Last year's peak demand of 250 GW was recorded on May 31. The subdued demand follows a modest 2.3 per cent year-on-year growth in April, attributed to a high base effect, according to ICRA. In January, the NLDC had flagged May and June as 'high-risk months' for power shortages, warning that unmet electricity demand could reach 15-20 GW, particularly during non-solar hours. However, rains and thunderstorms have kept temperatures low, which in turn has eased air-conditioner use and helped keep the power supply situation manageable so far. 'In May, we've been quite comfortable in terms of power availability and prices. The average market price for the first 13–14 days has been around Rs 4.40 per unit,' Rohit Bajaj, joint managing director at the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), said. 'In fact, we've even seen prices dip to Rs 3 on some days, especially after sudden rains. On May 4, for instance, the price dropped to Rs 3.11. There were several days when prices stayed below Rs 4,' Bajaj added. With low demand, the grid is also relying less on thermal-based capacities compared to last year. The share of electricity generated from coal has been around 71 per cent in May so far, compared to 74 per cent last year. As a result, the share of wind and solar has increased from around 10 to 14 per cent. 'Green energy is definitely rising. We've seen strong participation, and on a year-on-year basis, volumes have nearly doubled. A significant amount of solar power is coming in during the daytime,' Bajaj said. Compared to a modest 4.2 per cent growth in power demand in 2024-25—attributed to an unfavorable base and a slowdown in economic activity—ICRA expects demand to rise by 5.5–6 per cent in 2025-26. However, a favorable monsoon could temper this growth. Peak demand for 2025-26 is projected to reach 270 GW. Aggam Walia is a Correspondent at The Indian Express, reporting on power, renewables, and mining. His work unpacks intricate ties between corporations, government, and policy, often relying on documents sourced via the RTI Act. Off the beat, he enjoys running through Delhi's parks and forests, walking to places, and cooking pasta. ... Read More
Mint
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Mint
Cyberattacks fresh in mind, India raises grid security after Pahalgam
India has stepped up the security of its national power grid as heightened tensions with Pakistan revive memories of cyberattacks in recent years, three people aware of the development said. The power ministry has tightened security protocols at the load despatch centres which manage the demand and supply of power. The goal is to repel potential cyber and physical attacks that could bring down the grid, a calamity for any transmission utility. 'The National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC) and other regional and state load despatch centres are highly secure and safe. However, the security of these load despatch centres is usually enhanced in the light of the national security situation," one of the three people said on the condition of anonymity. Also read: Major discovery likely from blocks offered in OALP rounds, says OIL CMD The load despatch system has three levels, with the NLDC serving as the nerve centre. Below it are five regional load despatch centres (RLDCs) that supervise the five regional grids that form the national grid. Lower down are 33 state load dispatch centres (SLDCs) that manage power for the states and Union territories. Queries sent to the ministries of power and home affairs and the Grid Controller of India, which operates NLDC and supervises the operations of regional load despatch centres, remained unanswered. A second person said both cyber and physical security at all load despatch centres are being monitored. The security concerns stem from high-profile cyberattacks on India's power sector in recent years. These attacks caused outages in Mumbai in 2020, Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in 2019, THDC India Ltd's Tehri dam in 2017, West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd in 2017, and at Rajasthan and Haryana discoms in 2018. The National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC), which oversees India's cybersecurity operations in critical sectors, has also earlier reported several vulnerabilities in states' power utilities. Also read: Gensol's West Asia operations look to separate from parent Security concerns grew after a 2021 cyberattack on the northern grid, allegedly by Chinese hackers. In April 2022, erstwhile Union power minister R.K. Singh said three attacks were carried out on the power grid in strategically located Ladakh since December 2021, but the hackers did not succeed because safeguards were in place to thwart such intrusions. 'There have been continuous attacks on the Indian critical information infrastructure and this would continue," said Pavan Duggal, advocate at the Supreme Court and an expert in cyber and artificial intelligence (AI) laws. 'With the coming in of AI, a new vector of attacks and cyberthreats have opened up. The power grid is a critical infrastructure and recently, we saw the grid outage in Spain leading to halt across sectors including internet and aviation. India can be prone to such a threat. In 2024, the world witnessed an economic loss of around $8 trillion due to cyber attacks and a large part of it was from India. The projected loss for 2025 is about $10.5 trillion and India again may contribute a large share," Duggal cautioned. He added that there is a need for a futuristic, holistic and inclusive legal framework for the protection of critical information and India should also look at repelling and countering such attacks, besides building cyber resilience. Also read: BHEL's revenue grows 19% in FY25 on power sector demand 'More than physical security, cybersecurity has more significance as a cyberattack may halt the whole system," said Alok Kumar, former power secretary. 'A physical impact on a transmission line can be mitigated as the grid has alternate routes for power supply and security including the process of islanding. In the past few years, the government has taken several steps to ensure cyber security including the creation of the position of cyber security officers in concerned organizations and setting up a dedicated computer emergency response team for the power sector which institutionalizes cyber security aspect in grid management," he said. In August last year, the government had outlined measures taken to ensure cybersecurity of the power grid. The Computer Security Incident Response Team Power (CSIRT—Power) was established in April 2023 exclusively for the power sector. Additionally, sectoral Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) have been setup for thermal, hydro, transmission, distribution, grid operation and renewable energy sectors. Outlining the steps, junior power minister for power Shripad Yesso Naik said the Grid Controller of India has established a security operation centre (SOC) to monitor security events and incidents across the NLDC and RLDCs. An SOC has also been set up at Power Grid Corp. of India Ltd for 24x7 monitoring of critical assets. As of March 2024, 30 out of the 33 SLDCs managing the grid operations had conducted vulnerability assessment and penetration testing cybersecurity audits in the past five years, he added.
