ndia’s power demand hit a record of 250 gigawatts (GW) on May 30 as temperatures soared to record- level across the country, the Union power ministry said. 

The country’s power demand stood at 246.06 GW on the previous day while the all India non-solar demand met touched an all-time high of 234.3 GW on May 29. The power ministry said in a press release that this reflects the combined impact of weather-related loads and growing industrial and residential power consumption in these areas.

On May 30, the northern region achieved record demand met, reaching an all-time high of 86.7 GW while the western region also touched its maximum demand met of 74.8 GW. All-India thermal generation also hit an all-time high, achieving a peak of 176 GW, especially during non-solar hours.

“A key contributor in this has been strategic implementation of Section-11, which facilitated the maximization of generation from imported coal based plants as well as gas based plants,” the press release said.

This surge further underscores the significant capacity and operational efficiency of India's thermal power plants, which continue to be a backbone of the nation's energy mix, it added.