In view of rising power shortfall, India likely to plunge into darkness this summer

India faces a high risk of nighttime power cuts this summer and in coming years in view of surging electricity demand.

A rapid addition of solar farms has helped India avert daytime supply gaps, but a shortage of coal-fired and hydropower capacity risks exposing millions to widespread outages at night, government data and internal documents reviewed by a London based media outlet showed.

India’s power availability in “non-solar hours” this April is expected to be 1.7% lower than peak demand – a measure of the maximum electricity requirement over any given time, an internal note by the federal grid regulator.