Power demand spikes as heat and humidity soar in TN

Chennai: Though proper summer is yet to set in, the increasing heat and humidity have caused a spike in the power consumption in the state, with the peak demand breaching the 20,000-megawatt (MW) mark for the first time this year.On Friday, Tamil Nadu's peak power demand was 20,211MW, roughly 600MW short of breaching the all-time high peak demand of 20,830 MW recorded in 2024. It may be noted that Tamil Nadu's peak power demand for 2025 was 20,148MW, which was recorded in April. However, it was reached in the first week of March this year.
Similarly, the per-day power consumption was 416.284 million units (Mu), the highest for the year so far, while it was a little over 436 Mu last year. The highest per-day power consumption of 454.32Mu was recorded in April 2024.Power distribution officials anticipated the power demand to grow further in the coming days, as the weather forecast was largely dry across the State, with very little possibility of rainfall.Also, with the campaigns for the assembly elections gathering momentum and the IPL season expected to keep the power demand on the higher side this year, TNPDCL officials maintained that they tied up with private generators for long-, medium-, and short-term power supply to tide over the demand.Meanwhile, solar power generation also rose in the state, as TNPDCL absorbed 53.7Mu on Friday, the highest so far in a day. Previously, 50.8Mu was the highest solar generation recorded in a day in Tamil Nadu. Solar power generation peaked at 7,107MW on Friday. Tamil Nadu has an installed capacity of 9,555MW of solar power. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Women's day wishes, messages and quotes !