The national power distribution and transmission infrastructure is expanding in proportion to rising capacity and has reached 90 gigawatts.
According to the Energy Ministry and based on data from the state-affiliated Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company's (Tavanir), distribution and transmission lines have been extended by at least 5,000 kilometers in the past eight months, IRNA reported.
The length of distribution (133,000 km) and transmission lines (818,000 km) has reached 951,000 km nationwide.
The transmission lines now stretch over 818,000 kilometers, of which 15,000 km were laid on utility poles over the last two years.
Transmission lines (power lines) carry electricity from power stations to substations in and around cities and typically spans a distance of 500 kilometers or less.
Referring to data from Tavanir, the website said distribution lines, which carry electricity from substations to homes, industry and other end-users, have been extended by 1,000 kilometers to reach 133,000 km.
Tavanir said the length of the grid is in expansion mode and would reach 955,000 km by March 2023.
Power Substations
The installed capacity of substations, including transmission and distribution, has reached 136,500 megavolt ampere (MVA), up 29% compared to 2016 when it was 105,000 MVA.
According to Tavanir, the capacity of transmission substations, including both step-up and step-down stations, increased by 10,000 MVA over the last three years, whereas the figure for distribution substations is 9,000 MVA.
A step-up substation receives electricity from a nearby generating facility and uses a large power transformer to increase the voltage for transmission to distant locations.
Step-down substations are located at switching points in an electrical grid, connect different parts of a grid.
Distribution substations are located near end-users and adjust transmission voltage to lower levels for use by end-users.
Iran’s installed power generation capacity has reached 90 gigawatts, of which 72,600 MW are produced in thermal power plants and the rest is generated by hydroelectric, renewable, nuclear and cogeneration units.
According to Mohammad Ramezani, deputy for projects development at the Thermal Power Plants Holding Company, the capacity of Iran's thermal power plants has risen by 3,500 megawatts over the last 12 months.
“Linking up 17 gas and steam units with the national grid has helped boost output capacity in thermal power stations to over 72,000 MW,” he said.
Ramezani said a total of 598 steam and gas units are operational in 129 thermal power plants.
10-GW Deficit
The official noted that despite the rise in production capacity, the power network is still suffering from a deficit of at least 10,000 MW.
that 70% of the total capacity of domestic thermal power plants is owned by the private sector.
Total electricity generation capacity in Iran has surpassed 89,000 MW and an additional 6,000 MW planned by the Energy Ministry will be added to the current capacity in fall.
Iran has experienced electricity supply and demand imbalances over the past three years mainly because of a surge in energy-intensive cryptocurrency mining and a heavier use of natural gas in manufacturing and household sectors, which has caused power plants to operate at a lower capacity.
To further stabilize the grid, TPPHC has started converting seven single-cycle power plants into combined-cycles after it received the green light of the government’s Economic Council in June.
The official said steam units in six gas-powered stations operated by the private sector will be converted at an estimated cost of $2.5 billion.
Giving a breakdown on the venture, Ramezani said the total volume of power generation of these plants, namely the Soltaniyeh Power Plant in Zanjan, Zagros Power Station in the western Kermanshah Province, Persian Gulf Power Plant in Hormozgan Province, Golestan and Semnan power plants in the respective namesake provinces, Khorramshahr facility in Khuzestan and Shahid Kaveh Power Plant in Khorasan Razavi Province, is below 5,000 MW but will reach 7,500 MW after conversion.
