Scorching Summer Pushes India’s Power Demand to Record Again
A man with his face covered with a cloth rides a bicycle past air coolers outside a shop on a hot day in Varanasi, India on May 18.
Photographer: Niharika Kulkarni/AFP/Getty ImagesIndia’s peak electricity demand climbed to a record for the second consecutive day as blistering heat pushed up use of cooling appliances such as air-conditioners.
Consumption hit an all-time high of 260.45 gigawatts on Tuesday, the power ministry said in a post on social media platform X. That surpassed the previous record of 257.4 gigawatts usage on Monday afternoon, according to data published on Grid Controller of India’s website.