Iran’s power production capacity will increase by at least 8,000 megawatts in summer when consumption will rise similar to previous years, the spokesman of the power industry said.
“Of the total rise, about 6,000 MW are expected to be added to the thermal power generation capacity, 1,400 MW are for upgrading old power stations and the rest will come from new power plants with distributed generation systems,” Mostafa Rajabi-Mashhadi was also quoted as saying by the Energy Ministry’s news portal Paven.
The substantial rise will help cover a part of the deficit during peak hours [12-17 p.m.] when consumption is projected to surpass 70 gigawatts, he added.
Commenting on industries’ problems last summer, he noted that steel mills had to reduce their output by 8 million tons, sustaining losses of $6 billion.
Iran’s power use peaked at 68,000 MW last July and household sector accounted for 50% of the consumption.
Installed power generation capacity in Iran 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.
Despite the new additions to the capacity, power authorities have been repeatedly requesting households and industrial sectors to reduce consumption, especially during peak hours.
Working Hours
The government has implemented different plans to curtail demand, one of which was changing working hours in state-run offices as of June to avoid power outages.
“Offices are obliged to start work at 6 a.m. so that Iran Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company [Tavanir] can meet power demand during peak hours that start at 2 p.m.,” he said.
State organizations’ power consumption is monitored remotely and their electricity supply will be cut off if they do not comply with Tavanir’s regulations.
Changing working hours is expected to help with load management in provincial capitals, big cities and towns.
The initiative is projected to reduce power consumption by as much as 1,000 MW.
As per the hour shifting scheme, staff start work at 6:00 a.m. instead of 7:30 a.m. and leave at 1:30 p.m. instead of 2:30 p.m.
The program has forced state organizations to switch off all cooling systems after 12:00 p.m. and reduce consumption by at least 30% in other sections (lighting, computers and other electrical appliances) between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m.
An estimated 351 billion kilowatt-hours of power were generated in thermal power stations between July 2021 and June 2022, he added.
Rajabi-Mashhadi said the massive output, indicating a 7% growth compared to a year ago, accounted for 95% of total electricity produced in Iran last year.
