A recent statement issued by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited(MSEDCL) revealed that it was catered to highest ever demand for power in Maharashtra on February 19, 2020.As per MSEDCL source, managing the load t exceeded the previous record by 825 MW. Earlier on October 23, 2018, MSEDCL registered highest ever demand of power, it was 20,745 MW.
As per information, the increased day temperatures and increased usage by agricultural pumps contributed to the surge. To manage the increased demand, MSEDCL got 7853 MW through long term power contract with Maharashtra State Power Generation Corporation Limited (MSPGCL), 4134 MW from National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and NPCIAL Company, and 4567 MW from private power producers namely Adani, Ratan India, CGPL, JSW and AMCO.
Likewise, 1834 MW power was sourced through New and Renewable Energy sources plus Solar, 156 MW from wind power, 912 MW from co-generation plants, and in all 2932 MW from these sources. Balance demand was catered by tapping into Indian Energy Exchange, about 575 MW, 950 MW was sourced from Koyna Hydro project. Besides under Merit Order Dispatch, MSEDCL had contracts with Ratan India for 1080MW, MahaGenco-630 MW,NTPC (Solapur) 640 MW, but they were under maintenance but still the distribution company managed to arrange supply of 2350 MW shortfall through swift management. The sudden surge in power demand attributed to agricultural pumps and MSEDCL expects further rise in time of summer and already flexing its muscles to build-up additional stock to meet the extra supply demand.