While hydroelectric power plants in Tehran Province set a record last year, these are expected to have normal output this year, head of hydropower installations at Tehran Regional Electricity Company said.
“Considering the good rains in Tehran since the beginning of the current water year last September, it is predicted that in summer, hydroelectric power plants will have a good share in helping the national electricity network,” ISNA quoted Mohammad Shahriari as saying.
He added that this year's hydropower output might not be as high as last year, but with appropriate levels of water in the dams, production should be normal in the power plants.
Although Tehran saw higher precipitation in the past 7 months, it still registered less rain compared to last year, as a result of which hydropower output will not break the record set last year.
Total installed capacity of the hydroelectric power plants in Tehran is 268 megawatts, and in normal conditions 400,000 MW hours can be produced annually.
“Last year, due to the good condition of water resources, the output of plants was above normal. Production reached 549,000 MW hours -- unprecedented in previous years,” Shahriari noted.
The record was reached while the year before was almost a dry year and output from Tehran's hydroelectric power stations was below normal as they generated 236,000 MW hours. The increase in the year after was due to higher amount of rainfall that led to the storage of more water in dams.
Five dams provide water for Tehran, namely Taleqan, Latyan, Mamlou, Amirkabir and Lar. Together they can hold 1.93 billion cubic meters of water. With the recent levels of rainfall, there is now 751 million cubic meters of water in the dams -- 31 mcm less than this time last year when the dams held 783 mcm of water.
From the beginning of the Persian New Year (March 20) to April 12, nearly 205 mcm of water flowed into Tehran dams, 45% less than last year when water inflow into the dams in the same period was 372 mcm.
National Status
Dams across Iran can hold a maximum of 50 billion cubic meters of water and now almost 70% of them are full.
Hydropower constitutes approximately 12,000 MW of the total installed power generation capacity of 84,000 MW.
Hydroelectric plants play a key role during power outages by quickly restoring supply and supporting other plants (mostly thermal).
As of now 54 hydroelectric power plants operate across the country. There are 17 hydroelectric power plants under construction and would add 3,725 MW to the national grid.
Regarding hydroelectric power capacity, Iran is 19th in the world and 6th in Asia. China is first in Asia and the world with 341,000 MW.
