Delhi sizzles at 45 degree C
26 May 2012 9:52 AM GMT
Delhiites on Friday bore the brunt of summer sun as mercury soared to the season's highest of 44 degree Celsius. This led to increased demand for power which touched 5,032 MW, an all time high in the history of the Capital.
Today's maximum was three degree Celsius above normal and up from Thursday's 43.1 degrees while minimum was at 27.8 degrees, up from yesterday's 27.3 degrees and one degree above normal.
'This temperature is usual for the month of May in Delhi,' a Met official said.
As the temperature rose to 44 degree Celsius, the demand for power rose to 5,032 MW which is an all-time high for the capital.
The weather station at Aya Nagar has recorded temperature of 45.4 degree Celsius during the day while at Palam it was 45.2 degrees.
The readings at Safdurjung Met station are taken as Delhi temperature for official purposes. The humidity during the day was between 16 and 32 per cent.
On Saturday too, the weatherman predicted, the day temperature may remain around 44 degree Celsius.
According to the Met Office, it will be a clear sky tomorrow with the temperature oscillating between 30 and 44 degree Celsius.
Earlier, on 10 and 11 May, the city had recorded a maximum of 42.6 degree Celsius.
Meanwhile, the power demand in the city broke all previous records, touching an all-time high of 5,032 MW, triggering power cuts in several areas due to mismatch in demand and supply.
The previous highest power requirement in the city was recorded on 2 August last year when the demand touched 5,028 MW.
'The maximum power demand in the city touched 5,032 MW 3.44 pm, which is a new record of power consumption in Delhi,' a power department official said.
With mercury soaring to seasons highest of 44 degree Celsius, the outages ranging from one to four hours in several areas of the city made life miserable for people across the city. 'There was no power in our area for three hours,' said a resident in Janakpuri area of the city.
The power demand in the city has been increasing at a rate of around eight per cent in the last few years and as per projection of the government it would reach 5,500 MW this summer. As per projection by Central Electricity Authority, the power demand in Delhi would jump to 8,700 MW by the year 2017.
As per official figure, the power demand in the city in 1905 was just 2 MW, which had increased to 27 MW in 1947. The peak demand had touched 1,536 mw in 1992.
Power department officials said that there is no real gap between demand and supply and the outages primarily took place due to local faults triggered by increase in load factor on the transmission lines.
As for the increasing demand, they reasoned that the purchasing power of general public has increased and they are buying more consumer goods operated by electricity, which is leading to rise in electricity consumption.
'This is one of the major factors for rising electricity consumption,' said a senior official, adding that the private power distribution companies have made sufficient arrangements to meet the increasing demand.
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday had told private discoms to ensure uninterrupted power supply and cautioned them that load-shedding due to faulty transmission network would not be tolerated.
Dikshit asked the discoms to make their grievance redressal mechanism function efficiently and effectively round-the-clock so that people do not have to suffer long power cuts due to problem in transmission network.
The discoms were told to submit reports on the power situation to the government on a daily basis.
Today's maximum was three degree Celsius above normal and up from Thursday's 43.1 degrees while minimum was at 27.8 degrees, up from yesterday's 27.3 degrees and one degree above normal.
'This temperature is usual for the month of May in Delhi,' a Met official said.
As the temperature rose to 44 degree Celsius, the demand for power rose to 5,032 MW which is an all-time high for the capital.
The weather station at Aya Nagar has recorded temperature of 45.4 degree Celsius during the day while at Palam it was 45.2 degrees.
The readings at Safdurjung Met station are taken as Delhi temperature for official purposes. The humidity during the day was between 16 and 32 per cent.
On Saturday too, the weatherman predicted, the day temperature may remain around 44 degree Celsius.
According to the Met Office, it will be a clear sky tomorrow with the temperature oscillating between 30 and 44 degree Celsius.
Earlier, on 10 and 11 May, the city had recorded a maximum of 42.6 degree Celsius.
Meanwhile, the power demand in the city broke all previous records, touching an all-time high of 5,032 MW, triggering power cuts in several areas due to mismatch in demand and supply.
The previous highest power requirement in the city was recorded on 2 August last year when the demand touched 5,028 MW.
'The maximum power demand in the city touched 5,032 MW 3.44 pm, which is a new record of power consumption in Delhi,' a power department official said.
With mercury soaring to seasons highest of 44 degree Celsius, the outages ranging from one to four hours in several areas of the city made life miserable for people across the city. 'There was no power in our area for three hours,' said a resident in Janakpuri area of the city.
The power demand in the city has been increasing at a rate of around eight per cent in the last few years and as per projection of the government it would reach 5,500 MW this summer. As per projection by Central Electricity Authority, the power demand in Delhi would jump to 8,700 MW by the year 2017.
As per official figure, the power demand in the city in 1905 was just 2 MW, which had increased to 27 MW in 1947. The peak demand had touched 1,536 mw in 1992.
Power department officials said that there is no real gap between demand and supply and the outages primarily took place due to local faults triggered by increase in load factor on the transmission lines.
As for the increasing demand, they reasoned that the purchasing power of general public has increased and they are buying more consumer goods operated by electricity, which is leading to rise in electricity consumption.
'This is one of the major factors for rising electricity consumption,' said a senior official, adding that the private power distribution companies have made sufficient arrangements to meet the increasing demand.
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday had told private discoms to ensure uninterrupted power supply and cautioned them that load-shedding due to faulty transmission network would not be tolerated.
Dikshit asked the discoms to make their grievance redressal mechanism function efficiently and effectively round-the-clock so that people do not have to suffer long power cuts due to problem in transmission network.
The discoms were told to submit reports on the power situation to the government on a daily basis.
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