Of the total installed generating capacity of 70 gigawatts, 4,000 megawatts are wasted in dilapidated power stations, managing director of Thermal Power Plants Holding Company said.
“Decommissioning outdated thermal power plants is a compulsion, because despite consuming more natural gas as feedstock, their efficiency is as low as 25%,” Mohsen Tarztalab was also quoted as saying by Barq News.
As long as the government and private sector do not invest in the key sector, modern power stations cannot become operational and demand will surpass supply, he added.
“If the government settles its debt to TPPHC, we will be able to pay off our debts to private sector contractors and they will be more willing to embark on new initiatives,” he said.
“The number of projects held up by financial constraints is on the rise, meaning the gap between production and demand is increasing day by day.”
Energy officials in Iran Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company (Tavanir) have suggested boosting electricity imports from neighboring states to meet domestic demand. However, the TPPHC chief says, “The Energy Ministry has enough money for purchasing power from other countries, yet it does not have the budget to settle our debts. If the Energy Ministry had remained committed to its financial obligations, the private sector would be able to help meet all the needs and Iran would become a power exporter and not an importer.”
Transmission Networks
According to Mohammad Hassan Motavallizadeh, the former head of Tavanir, the gradual power loss reduction in the distribution and transmission networks nationwide has helped the state-run company save $2.5 billion in repair and maintenance costs in the past seven years.
“Electricity wastage has reduced by 5.3% compared to 2014 when it was 15%,” he said.
“Substituting aging equipment, lines, utility posts, cables and electric meters and fighting illegal use [theft] were among measures adopted by Tavanir to minimize the loss.”
Referring to the positive trend over the past seven years, he said wastage in the grid decreased to 12% in 2015 and the descending order has since continued and reached 11.7%, 11.2%, 10.7%, 10.4% and 9.7% in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively.
“The 0.7% decline in 2020 [compared to the previous year] helped save 500 million cubic meters of natural gas in power stations and prevented the emission of 1 million tons of carbon dioxide,” he added.
However, power loss in Iran’s distribution and transmission networks is still high (close to 6,000 megawatts a day) but still less than in Brazil, Turkey, Hungary, India and Croatia.
Iran ranks seventh in terms of power wastage in the world. Iraq (50.6%), India (19.4), Pakistan (17.4%), Brazil (15.8), Turkey (14.8) and Mexico (13.7%) are the top six.
According to Tavanir, $500 million are required to cut electricity waste to less than 9.7%, which level is seen in Portugal and Spain.
Power waste in China, the US, France, Italy, England, South Africa and Canada is as low as 5.5%, 5.9%, 6.4%, 6.7%, 8.3%, 8.4% and 8.9%, respectively.
The global average power loss is around 8.3%, still a far cry for Iran.
