Power grid registers record-high load this hot season

AMMAN — The power grid on Tuesday registered a record-high load of 3,165 megawatts (MW) since the beginning of the hot season as temperatures soared across the Kingdom, according to the National Electric Power Company (NEPCO).

The electric load on the country’s network increased as a hot air mass accompanied by a seasonal depression originating from the Indian subcontinent started affecting the Kingdom on Friday and peaked on Monday, according to authorities.

“Although Monday was the peak of the hot air mass, it was expected that the load on the power grid will be higher today [Tuesday] as the heat is still trapped inside houses and buildings,” said Amin Zaghel, NEPCO operations department director.

Zaghel underscored that no power cuts in the generation and transfer of electricity were reported, highlighting that the maximum capacity of the country’s power grid is 3,600MW.

He also noted that people’s growing reliance on fans and air conditioners was putting an extra load on the electricity network, highlighting that there were several ways that people could reduce their electricity bills and prevent power cuts.

“Households are advised during hot spells to set the air-conditioning units to 24ºC and to avoid turning on more than one unit at the same time,” Zaghel told The Jordan Times.

In addition, he urged the public to avoid doing laundry or ironing or using water heaters between 12 noon and 4pm, when the load on the power grid peaks.

Temperatures on Tuesday reached 37ºC in east Amman and 35ºC in the city’s west, according to the Jordan Meteorological Department (JMD).

JMD weather forecaster Ibrahim Sueidat said that the impact of the hot air mass and the seasonal thermal depression which started affecting the country on Friday would gradually ease off from Wednesday.

“Temperatures during the rest of the week will remain higher than the annual average for this time of the year, but the impact of the combined weather conditions will ease off,” Sueidat told The Jordan Times on Tuesday.

The weather between Wednesday and Friday will be relatively hot in mountainous areas and hot in the rest of the Kingdom, according to the weather forecaster, who noted that daytime temperatures on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday would be 36ºC, 35ºC and 34ºC respectively in the capital’s east and 34ºC, 33ºC and 32ºC in west Amman.