Best of BS

Best of BS

Surging demand for power owing to an extended, unusually hot summer and rising economic activity has seen northern states, some of them critical manufacturing bases, facing widening demand-supply gaps. The key point about this power deficit is that it has occurred in the absence of the usual suspects – a shortage of coal, which accounts for 70 per cent of electricity generation, or the underperformance of hydropower, the second largest energy supplier.