The all-India energy demand increased year-on-year for the third consecutive month in November after declining over March to August although the improvement slowed down to 3.7 per cent to 97.9 billion units, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said on Wednesday.
This was due to the early onset of winters impacting demand from the northern region. Even though the energy demand has been recovering, the demand over April to November came in 5 per cent year-on-year lower.
Electricity generation (excluding renewables) increased 1.9 per cent to 95.3 billion units in November owing to 4.1 per cent growth in thermal generation, although hydro generation was lower 17 per cent.
Thermal plant load factor (PLF) increased to 53 per cent on account of the increased demand and sufficient coal supply at power plants, said Ind-Ra in its latest edition of credit news digest.
Central sector PLF decreased marginally to 60.6 per cent in November while state and private sector PLFs increased to 44.8 per cent and 54 per cent.
The thermal PLF over April to November was lower at 50.8 per cent, most impacted by the decline in power demand, given the must-run status of nuclear, hydro and renewables.
Electricity generation from renewable sources in November increased by 6.9 per cent to 9.2 billion units with wind and solar generation improving 11.6 per cent and 7.4 per cent respectively.
The wind generation has shown 1.1 per cent improvement in April to November after being lower 17.1 per cent in 1H FY21, said Ind-Ra.
