两名联邦政府官员表示，由于水力发电出力不足以及部分电站的维护问题，夜间电力供应减少，印度多个邦正寻求从联邦政府获得更多电力配额，以避免停电。
Several Indian states are seeking additional power allocations from the federal government to avoid outages as weak hydropower output and maintenance at some plants have reduced electricity supply during the night, two federal government officials said.
官员们称，印度在可再生能源领域领先的拉贾斯坦邦和古吉拉特邦已申请额外供电，此外还有马哈拉施特拉邦、泰米尔纳德邦、安得拉邦、西孟加拉邦、北方邦、恰蒂斯加尔邦以及德里联邦属地等其他邦也提出了类似请求。
Rajasthan and Gujarat, among India’s leading states for renewable energy, have sought additional supplies, along with other states including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Union Territory Delhi, the officials said.
通常情况下，联邦政府可从燃煤和水力发电站获得约14至15吉瓦（GW）的电力，并在电力短缺时分配给各邦。
The federal government typically has access to about 14 to 15 gigawatts (GW) of electricity from coal and hydropower plants that it can allocate to states during a shortfall.
但官员们表示，受厄尔尼诺现象影响，降雨量减少导致水力发电减弱，可供重新调配的电力资源因此更加紧张。他们补充说，联邦政府此前已向旁遮普邦提供了额外电力，因为该邦部分地区在9月份曾遭遇每天长达14小时的停电。
But weaker hydropower generation following an El Nino-related decline in rainfall has tightened supplies available for redistribution, the officials said, adding the federal government has already given extra power to Punjab as the state suffered power outages of up to 14 hours per day in some areas in September.
这些官员在发言时要求匿名，因为他们没有接受媒体采访的授权。印度电力部尚未回应置评请求。
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media. India’s Ministry of Power did not respond to a request for comment.
电力短缺问题凸显了印度在日落后的用电需求难以满足的困境，尽管可再生能源装机容量迅速扩张，但电池储能能力不足，限制了将白天多余的太阳能发电转移到傍晚和夜间使用的可能性。
The power squeeze highlights India’s difficulty in meeting electricity demand after sunset despite a rapid expansion in renewable capacity, with insufficient battery storage limiting the ability to shift surplus daytime solar generation to evening and night hours.
政府数据显示，尽管燃煤电厂已提高发电量以满足强劲需求，印度9月份的电力短缺量仍飙升至5.6亿千瓦时（kWh），为2023年8月以来的最高水平。
India’s power shortages surged to 560 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) in September, the highest since August 2023, even as coal-fired plants increased output to meet strong demand.
数据显示，9月份燃煤发电量较一年前增长了13.3%，而水力发电量则下降了20%。
Coal-fired generation rose 13.3% in September from a year earlier, while hydropower generation has fallen 20% from a year ago, government data showed.
一位官员表示，由于政府可用的电力资源大部分已经分配完毕，因此难以满足各邦的电力需求，这意味着若要增加供应，就必须从其他邦抽调电力。
The government is finding it difficult to meet states’ requests because much of its available power has already been allocated, meaning additional supplies would have to be withdrawn from other states, one of the officials said.
Elara Securities的研究分析师Rupesh Sankhe表示，多座燃煤发电厂正在维护中，同时水电和风电发电量较弱，导致在工业用电需求旺盛时期出现了电力短缺。
Several coal power plants are undergoing maintenance, while there has been weaker hydropower and wind generation leading to a power shortfall at a time of high industrial demand, said Rupesh Sankhe, a research analyst at Elara Securities.
根据Grid India的数据，目前有近41吉瓦的发电设施处于停运状态。此外，约47%的燃煤电厂燃料储备处于临界水平，相当于法定煤炭供应量的四分之一以下。
Nearly 41 GW of power plants are offline, according to Grid India data. Also, about 47% of the coal plants had critical fuel levels, which equates to less than a quarter of mandated coal supplies.
Sankhe还表示，各邦未能对全年的电力采购进行充分规划，因为它们没有预料到夏季会持续如此之久。此外，通过交易所购买的电力价格已经变得昂贵。
The states also failed to adequately plan their power purchases for the year because they did not anticipate the summer extending this long, Sankhe said, adding electricity bought on exchanges has become expensive.
这位官员称，电力部一直在敦促可再生能源生产商加快电池储能系统的整合，以储存白天原本会被浪费的太阳能。
The power ministry has been pushing renewable-energy producers to accelerate the integration of battery storage systems to capture solar electricity that would otherwise go unused during the day, the officials said.