Amid soaring temperatures, India successfully meets record peak power demand of 260.45 GW

Amid rising power demand with rising temperatures across the country, India was able to meet the peak power demand of 260.45 gigawatts during solar hours at 3:40 pm on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, the Union Power Ministry said on Tuesday, May 19, 2026.

The latest achievement surpasses the previous peak of 257.37 gigawatts scaled on Monday, May 18, 2026.

According to the Ministry’s data, 61.5 percent of the electricity produced at the peak hour was from thermal, 22 percent from solar, 6.7 percent from wind, 5.3 percent from hydro and 2.7 percent from nuclear.

Regarding the peak power demand on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, the Ministry of Energy said: “The capacity to meet increasing energy demand is not a story of an overnight transformation, but a story of continuous focus on generation, transmission and distribution over the last few years.”

As of May this year, India’s installed capacity is over 538 gigawatts.

The installed capacity based on renewable resources is 283.46 GW, of which 150.26 GW is solar, 56.09 GW is wind, 11.75 is bioenergy, 5.17 is small hydropower and 51.41 GW is large hydropower.

The remaining 8.78 GW of the installed capacity consists of nuclear energy and comes from non-renewable sources.