An all-time high volume of electricity was traded on the Indian Energy Exchange in January, coinciding with the trend of record-breaking electricity demand over the past few weeks as the Indian economy bounces back in the post-Covid world.
The power trading exchange firm said in a release that 7,434 mega units (MU) of electricity was traded last month — a year-on-year growth of 47 per cent. The term-ahead market segment, which comprises intra-day, contingency, daily and weekly contracts, reported the highest growth of 95 per cent year-on-year, with 524 MU volume traded.
New milestone
This is a new milestone for the electricity market, which utilities turn to when their consumers demand more power than is being supplied through long-term contracts with electricity generators. According to the data published by the National Load Dispatch Center, the national peak demand touched 190 gigawatts on January 30, seeing an 11 per cent year-on-year growth, while the energy consumption grew 4.7 per cent YoY during the month.
The day-ahead market segment of IEX traded 5,584 MU, registering ample availability of power with the total sell bids at 10,074 MU being almost twice of the cleared volume, the company said.
The real-time market segment, which attempts to balance demand-supply variations in at just 1-hour notice, registered the highest ever monthly volume of 1,233 MU in January since its commencement in June last year. The sell-side liquidity was twice the cleared volume, with the market price of ₹3.01 per unit, the release added.