Delhi can have surplus power

New Delhi: The capital’s power cut fears could be addressed only by a techno-vision, seeking nuclear power for domestic needs.  

The last summer saw the capital breaking all records, with the demand touching an all-time high of 5,653 mw. The previous year’s power requirement in peak summer touched 5,642 mw.
The demand for more power has been increasing at the rate of eight per cent in the last few years, and soon it will reach 6,000 mw. The power demand in 1905 was just 2 mw which increased to 27 mw in 1947. The peak demand touched 1,536 mw in 1992 while in 1997 it hit 2,303 mw and further to 2,879 mw in 2001.
In 2002, the demand went up to 3,097 mw while in 2007, it touched 4,030 mw. While the demand went up to 4,408 mw in 2009, it touched 4,720 mw in 2010. In 2011, the demand had gone up to 5,028 mw.

India has a flourishing nuclear power program that could generate 14,600 mw nuclear capacity by 2020. India is on way to becoming a global leader in nuclear energy, and aims to supply 25% of electricity from nuclear power by 2050.

As a grim reminder that India should not solely depend on the traditional source of power, in July 2012 the Northern grid failed with 35,669 mw load in the early morning, and the following day two other grids failed putting over 600 million people in 22 states without power for a whole day. India has five electricity grids – Northern, Eastern, North-Eastern, Southern and Western. All of them are interconnected to some extent, except the Southern grid.