New Delhi: With the national capital’s peak power demand projected to hit 13,000 MW by 2031, the Rekha Gupta-led government has devised a plan to upgrade Delhi’s ageing electricity infrastructure in order to keep up. Under Mission 2030, about Rs 17,000 crore will be invested in upgrading substations, underground cabling, transformers and smart monitoring systems.
Delhi Power Minister Ashish Sood told reporters at a briefing that the systems in many parts of the city are over 25 years old and are struggling to cope with rising demand. “At many locations, the systems are over 25 years old. These then overload and short-circuit. We will replace them to ensure greater reliability,” Sood said.
According to official figures, 78 of 183 transformers in Delhi’s transmission network are more than two decades old. Officials said in a statement that ageing infrastructure has become a key reason behind transformer failures and power cuts during periods of heavy power use, especially in summers.
The government has said the deteriorating condition of the network has now made large-scale upgrades unavoidable as Delhi’s electricity demand continues to rise sharply.
Delhi’s peak power demand, currently at around 8,656 MW, may rise to nearly 14,000 MW by 2034 owing to increasing use of air conditioners, rapid electric vehicle adoption and metro expansion.
Minister Sood said the current government inherited a power distribution system that “has experienced a lack of substantial upgrades, timely repairs and proper maintenance”.
The overhaul will include new substations, replacement of ageing equipment, strengthening of electricity lines and expansion of underground cabling to improve reliability and reduce outages.
The first phase of the project will involve work with spends of Rs 1,426 crore across all 70 assembly constituencies in Delhi. Chhatarpur, Kirari, Mundka, Najafgarh, Shahdara and Karawal Nagar are among the areas which will receive some of the highest allocations.
Hari Nagar was presented at the briefing as a model constituency to demonstrate how the larger city-wide upgrade would work at the local level.
The government has also announced a “Digital Twin” pilot project in Janakpuri that will digitally monitor sections of Delhi’s electricity network in real time to detect faults early and improve maintenance.
“Future power systems will not run only on cables and transformers. They will also run on real-time data, predictive analytics and intelligent monitoring systems,” Sood said.
Government officials also acknowledged delays in previous infrastructure projects because of tender failures, procurement bottlenecks and shortage of land for new substations. According to review figures, only 58 of 120 proposed projects under an earlier infrastructure plan were completed, while projects worth more than Rs 3,600 crore remained unfinished.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)