Workers remove dead fish from the Sanjay Lake, which partially dried up amid a heatwave in New Delhi on May 22, 2026. (Photo: AFP/Arun Sankar)

India warns of power use as demand peaks during heatwave

Temperatures in the capital New Delhi hit 43°C on Friday.

22 May 2026, 10:49 · CNA · Join

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NEW DELHI: India's power ministry urged careful use of electricity on Friday (May 22), a day after breaking records for power generation during an intense heatwave in the world's most populous nation.

Peak power usage this week has broken records for four straight days, with temperatures hitting 47°C, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Workers on Friday scooped up dead fish floating on the surface of the Sanjay Park lake in the capital New Delhi. The fish died as the water shrank after days of relentless summer sun.

Temperatures in the megacity hit 43°C on Friday.

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On Thursday, the power ministry said it had "successfully met" the "fourth consecutive day when the peak power demand ... reached a new all-time high", supplying 270.82 gigawatts (GW).

But it also warned that the grid was being stretched.

"Although we are prepared to supply electricity as required, due to the intense summer, let us all try to use electricity wisely and judiciously," it said in a statement.

It had earlier noted that the "surge in demand appears to be linked to the greater usage of cooling appliances".

Thermal power - largely coal - accounted for 62 per cent of generation on Thursday, with solar making up 22 per cent, wind and hydropower taking up 5 per cent each and the rest coming from other sources.

In addition to burning heat in the peak of the sunshine, India's minimum temperatures during the night are scorching hot - giving people little respite.

In New Delhi, one of the main weather stations recorded a minimum temperature of 31.9°C on Thursday, the highest for the month of May in the city in 14 years, according to IMD data.

The IMD said that average minimum temperatures were 0.78°C higher than normal countrywide in April, and warned of above normal minimum temperatures in May.

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India, the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2070, but remains heavily reliant on coal.

Despite the power production, followers of the ministry's X account reported that there had been cuts in their districts.

The intense heat can overload old wiring and transformers, and cause localised blackouts.

The South Asian country of 1.4 billion people is no stranger to sizzling summers, with routine heatwaves between April and June.

Years of scientific research has found climate change is causing heatwaves to become longer, more frequent and more intense.

The IMD said the highest maximum temperature recorded on Thursday was 47.6°C in the city of Banda in Uttar Pradesh state, 450km southeast of New Delhi, moderately cooler than the 48.2°C earlier in the week. It was 4.1°C above normal temperatures.

The country's highest officially recorded temperature is 51°C, measured at Phalodi in Rajasthan in 2016.

In April, international air-quality monitoring platform AQI said its daily heat index - made up of six measurements including temperature, solar intensity, wind, precipitation and humidity - recorded that all of the world's top 50 hottest cities were in India.

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