Why India's widening night-time power gap concerns grid managers, Pg17

Key Highlights:

• India faces a growing divergence between daytime solar power generation and night-time power shortages as it enters peak summer in May 2026.
• Night-time power shortages reached as high as 5.4 GW in April 2026, enough to power 2.7 million rural homes.
• On April 24, 2026, about 23.8 GW of coal and nuclear capacity was under forced outage, exacerbating the night-time deficit.
• A record high electricity demand of 256 GW was recorded due to warmer-than-usual temperatures in April 2026.

Detailed Insights:

• The increasing night-time power gap is attributed to the rise in electricity demand post-sunset from EV charging and electric cooking, coupled with outages at thermal power plants.
• Despite the addition of 43 GW of renewable energy capacity between April 2025 and January 2026, thermal capacity additions lagged behind at 16.5 GW between April 2023 and November 2025, with battery storage deployment at a mere 0.27 GW.
• The limited expansion of nuclear power, currently at 8.8 GWe, further restricts options for firm low-carbon baseload supply, increasing grid instability.
• Sustained high temperatures in April 2026, with average peak temperatures across 50 Indian cities reaching 44.7°C, have led to round-the-clock demand for cooling appliances, intensifying grid stress at night.
• Western states like Gujarat and Maharashtra, along with east coast states and Himalayan foothills, are expected to experience more days of unusually high temperatures, potentially worsening the evening supply shortfall during peak summer.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Baseload Generation: The minimum amount of electric power needed to be supplied to the electrical grid at all times.
• Forced Outages: Unplanned disruptions in power generation due to technical faults, equipment failures, or fuel constraints.
• Dispatchable Capacity: The capability of a power plant to adjust its power output on demand, typically associated with thermal and hydro plants.