Power sector note — peak demand, solar hours and the market

On 25 April 2026 all-India peak demand touched 256.1 GW. The grid held. Coal still supplied about two-thirds of generation at the peak; solar about a fifth in the solar hours. After sunset the system was short. Night deficit touched about 5.4 GW. Exchange prices hit the ceiling of ₹20 a unit.

This is not the old coal-shortage crisis. Daytime solar covers the noon peak; the evening ramp has no storage and no public balancing plant on the scale required. Section 11 directions went even to high-cost imported-coal and gas stations.

Installed capacity has crossed 500 GW. More than half is now classed non-fossil. The Draft National Electricity Policy 2026 and the Bharat Electricity Summit point the same way: private capital, market coupling, virtual PPAs, capacity markets, smart prepaid meters.

DISCOMs carry the grid and lose the paying consumer to open access, captive plant and rooftop solar. The Supreme Court has held that the Railways pays cross-subsidy and additional surcharge like any other open-access consumer. The full note is the annexure PDF.