India is changing its methods for predicting the demand for power in order to make sure that the system stays stable as the amount of clean energy increases and that the generation capacity meets the demand.
In order to obtain better environmental data and prepare more frequent forecasts to account for unforeseen events, the government’s Central Electricity Authority, or CEA, is looking to collaborate with weather agencies. Systemic improvements are necessary because demand forecasting has become more difficult due to shifting power usage patterns, growing use of intermittent solar and wind energy, and an increase in the frequency of extreme weather occurrences. It is now essential to more accurately predict future demand in order to avoid supply-demand imbalances, control utility bills, and avoid blackouts.
Since state distribution utilities handle over 80% of the nation’s electricity trading, demand evaluations at the national level are based on aggregate data from these entities. Access to increasingly detailed long- and short-term data is now essential for projecting electricity consumption, as climate change makes the weather more unpredictable. Weather fluctuation affects renewable energy, and a single storm could completely cut off a plant from the grid, leaving a gap that needs to be covered by other sources until it is restored.