The all-India energy demand is likely to decline in May 2021 on a month-on-month basis, despite the peak summer season, and is set to remain below pre-pandemic levels due to continuation of Covid-19 led restrictions till May 31, 2021, said Ind-Ra.
With Covid cases peaking in May and states opening up from June, Ind-Ra expects energy demand to start recovering from June 2021. In the first 25 days of May 2021, the all-India energy demand was 88.8 billion units, whereas in May 2020, it was 102.6 billion units, while in May 2019, it was 120.7 billion units.
In April 2021, the all-India energy demand was higher by 39.3 per cent y-o-y at 118.4 billion units, up from 22.8 per cent in March 2021, due to the lower base effect and the early onset of summer contributing to the higher demand.
The short-term power price at Indian Energy Exchange remained high at ₹3.70/kWh in April 2021 as against ₹2.41/kWh in April 2020 on account of a high demand from the short-term power market.
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The electricity generation increased 42.5 per cent y-o-y to 115.5 billion units in April 2021, up from 23.5 per cent in March 2021. Electricity generation from renewable sources increased 17.9 per cent y-o-y to 11.7 billion units in April 2021.
The improvement in energy demand and the reduced generation from hydro generation have helped the thermal plant load factor (PLF) increase to 66.7 per cent in April 2021. In April 2021, the thermal sector’s PLFs rose on a y-o-y basis across the Central, State and private sectors, increasing to 78.4 per cent.
The coal production by Coal India Limited improved marginally by 3.8 per cent y-o-y to 41.9 million tonne in April 2021, after falling for three consecutive months. The gradual recovery in power demand over June 2020-April 2021 led to a gradual rise in coal offtake over the same period.