Power gen and consumption see uptick in March: Care Ratings

Electricity consumption and generation witnessed a notable improvement in March 2021. As per a Care Ratings report, both conventional as well as renewable energy witnessed a monthly as well as an annual increase in generation. This along with firming up of prices in the short-term electricity market during the month was indicative of the strengthening of electricity demand and hinted towards the tentative economic recovery.

The report indicates that electricity generation in FY21 was marginally lower than that in FY20 with lower output from conventional sources. Consumption too was slightly lower than a year ago owing to the lower demand in the first five month of FY21.

The addition to domestic power generation capacity in the first 11 months of FY21 at 9.7 GW has been the lowest annualised addition in twelve years and is around half of that a year ago. New capacity addition of conventional as well as renewable energy has slowed down, with the decline in the former being higher. The addition to capacity in the current financial year has been led by solar power.

Distribution Company (discom) dues to generators continue to be sizable. As of end February 2021, the outstanding dues amounted to Rs 0.90 lakh crore.

Electricity generation India’s power generation rose sharply in March 2021 with higher generation from conventional and renewable sources(based on provisional data). Electricity generation during March at 131 billion units (BU) was 17% higher than the previous month and 22% more than March 2020. It was the highest monthly generation on record.

In FY21, domestic electricity generation was 1380 BU, 0.6% less than FY20. This fall was mainly on account of the lower output from conventional sources (thermal, hydro and nuclear), which accounts for around 90% of the total generation.

Read the Care Ratings report here.

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