India's 2024 power output growth is slowest since pandemic, data shows
The Hindu
India's power output growth slows in 2024 due to economic slowdown, coal-fired power dips, renewables rise despite wind output fall.
India's electricity generation grew at its slowest pace in 2024 since the COVID-19 pandemic, an analysis of federal grid regulator data showed, hit by a slowdown in the world's fastest growing major economy.
Power output rose 5.8% annually to 1,824.13 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), an analysis of daily load despatch data from federal grid regulator Grid-India showed.
Growth in power generation averaged 2.3% in the year's second half, nearly a quarter of the first half's rise of 9.6%, the data showed.
The slackening electricity generation was in line with a softening economy, which grew at the slowest pace in nearly two years during the quarter that ended on September 30.
The slowdown has not shown signs of easing significantly, with India's manufacturing activity growing in December at its weakest pace for the year, amid weaker demand.
However, analysts expect a pickup in industrial activity and residential power use stemming from adverse weather to drive growth of 6% to 7% in electricity use in 2025.
"Demand has already picked up in December, with mercury levels dropping and increased usage of heating systems," said Sooraj Narayan, head of Asia-Pacific power modelling at consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
Bengaluru has witnessed a significant drop in temperature this winter, especially from mid-December, 2024. The Meteorological Centre, Bengaluru, in its observation data recorded at 8.30 a.m. on January 8, said that the minimum temperature recorded at the city observatory was 16.4 °C. The minimum temperatures recorded at HAL Airport and the Kempegowda International Airport were 15.2 °C and 15.0 °C. Just before that, on January 4, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) alerted a significant drop in temperatures, with the predicting a minimum of 10.2 °C, which is below the city’s January average minimum of 15.8 °C and is attributed to the cold wave sweeping across northern India.
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