India faces power crunch in June, worst shortage in over a decade

India is facing its most significant power shortfall in 14 years for June, attributed to a decline in hydropower generation and delays in commissioning new coal-fired plants.

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To mitigate potential outages, the government is deferring planned plant maintenance and re-opening idled units.

The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) forecasts a peak shortage of 14 GW in June, particularly during nighttime when solar capacity is offline. This gap, the widest since 2009-10, has prompted urgent measures by the Power Minister, R K Singh, who deferred shutdowns for maintenance and revived 5 GW of idled coal plant capacity.

The Ministry emphasizes that all efforts are being made to maximize generation to meet power demand adequately. Grid-India projects a maximum nighttime demand of 235 GW in June, with approximately 187 GW of thermal capacity and 34 GW from renewable sources available. These figures highlight the challenge of balancing supply and demand amidst growing energy needs.