India's duck & camel

Frequently asked

What is the duck curve?

The duck curve is the shape of net electricity demand — total demand minus solar and wind — across a day. As solar rises around midday, net load dips into a belly; as solar fades in the evening, net load ramps up steeply, tracing a duck-like silhouette.

How deep is India's midday net-load turn-down?

In May 2026, all-India net load falls about 35% from its evening/night peak of roughly 211 GW to a daytime belly of about 137 GW, with around 71 GW of solar and wind at the belly (India Energy Atlas, modelled from POSOCO demand and vintage-scaled renewables, as of August 2026).

What is India's winter camel curve?

In winter India's net load traces a double-humped 'Bactrian camel' rather than a duck: a pre-dawn hump as households wake to the cold, a solar-fed midday trough, and an evening hump after dark. By January 2026 the midday trough has fallen below the pre-dawn floor — solar now pushes the belly beneath the night-time base. The EAC-PM working paper 'The Duck and The Camel' (EAC-PM/WP/53/2026) traces the same shapes; the live curves here update daily and add per-state detail. Use the season switcher to compare the summer duck, the winter camel and the monsoon.

What happens to the duck curve in the monsoon?

In the monsoon the duck flattens. Heavy cloud cuts solar output, so the midday belly is shallower and net load looks more like a conventional demand profile than the deep summer duck or the double-humped winter camel. India Energy Atlas materialises July net load alongside the May duck and the January camel, so you can switch seasons on the live page and compare — the same three-season arc the EAC-PM working paper 'The Duck and The Camel' (EAC-PM/WP/53/2026) traces.

What is net demand?

Net demand = total electricity demand − solar − wind. It is the load the dispatchable fleet (coal, gas, hydro, nuclear, storage) must actually serve, and the right lens for the duck curve because solar and wind are not dispatchable.

Is India's net load ever negative?

Nationally not yet — net load stays around 65% of peak at its lowest. But high-solar states are approaching zero: Rajasthan is the leading first-negative-net-load candidate in India Energy Atlas's modelled per-state series — India's 'California moment' in the making.

Where can I get the data?

The hourly net-demand profile and records are open (CC-BY) via the India Energy Atlas API at /api/intelligence/net-demand and on the live page at energymap.in/duck-curve.