Alarm bells as heatwave powering energy demand

New Delhi: The Union Power Ministry on Tuesday said it has asked all utilities ‘to maintain a high state of alert and minimise forced outages of equipment’ amid heatwave pushing electricity demand, especially in the northern region where Monsoon is yet to arrive.

The country’s northern region has been experiencing high electricity demand due to a prevailing heatwave since May 17, 2024, the ministry said in a statement. Despite these challenging conditions, the ministry said, the highest ever peak demand of 89 GW in the northern region was successfully met on June 17, 2024.