Industry Odisha Bureau, Oct 01: India’s power shortage reached 560 million kWh in September despite 11.3% higher generation. Coal output climbed sharply. Strong demand, weak hydropower and limited storage exposed a growing grid flexibility gap.
More power, bigger shortfall
India’s power shortage climbed to 560 million kWh in September. That is the highest level since August 2023. The figure comes from Reuters calculations of daily Grid-India data.
Yet India power generation rose 11.3% year-on-year to 174.17 billion kWh. The country produced far more electricity and still fell short.
The contradiction lies in timing. Monthly totals show volume, not availability at every hour. Electricity must be available when and where consumers need it. A healthy monthly total can conceal sharp supply gaps during peaks.
Demand runs ahead
Rupesh Sankhe, a research analyst at Elara Securities, points to higher peak power demand. He links that rise to stronger industrial electricity consumption. Several power plants were also undergoing maintenance, he said.
Heavier industrial use lifts both baseload needs and peak requirements. When maintenance removes capacity, the remaining fleet has less room to respond.
Coal carries more load
Coal-fired generation rose 13.3% from a year earlier. Coal’s share of total electricity generation reached 66.03% in September. That compared with 64.6% in August.
Thermal power can be dispatched when other sources fall short. Plants can raise output as demand stays elevated and renewable production varies.
Renewables rise, share falls
Renewable generation grew faster still, rising 25.1% year-on-year to 29.62 billion kWh. Yet clean energy’s share of total output slipped to about 17%. It stood at 19.5% in August.
This reflects arithmetic, not a fall in renewable power. When coal output expands strongly, the total mix grows. A source can produce more while its percentage share shrinks.
Storage becomes the missing link
Analysts also cited a lack of battery storage. Solar power is generated during daylight hours. Demand can stay strong after solar output fades.
Without storage, surplus daytime clean energy cannot shift into later hours. Grid operators then lean on dispatchable generation, largely coal. Storage alone would not close every gap. But it shapes how much renewable power the grid can use.
Hydro weakness adds pressure
Weaker rainfall reduced hydropower generation, analysts said. Reuters linked the demand surge partly to an El Niño weather pattern.
Hydropower supplies both energy and quick balancing capability. Less hydro leaves thermal plants covering more high-demand periods.
Coal stocks tighten
About two in five coal plants are running with critically low fuel stocks. That is roughly 40% of plants, according to separate government data.
Higher coal burn draws inventories down faster. Low stocks do not mean plants are shutting. They do, however, shrink the operational buffer during demand spikes.
The flexibility challenge
September showed coal and renewables growing together. Total output rose by more than a tenth. Still, India’s grid could not always match supply with demand.
The India power sector’s test is shifting from volume to flexibility. Generating electricity is one task. Delivering it when the country needs it is another.
