Tehran Province’s power demand increases by about 150-200 megawatts with the rise of each degree Celsius in temperature, the managing director of Tehran Regional Electricity Company said on Sunday.
“When Iran’s average temperature goes up by 1 degree Celsius, power consumption witnesses a rise of about 1,500 MW,” Gholamreza Khoshkholq was also quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
Stressing that the prudent use of electricity in certain hours is a major determinant of consumption rate, Khoshkholq added that the important point is to optimize consumption between 12 noon till 4 p.m. so that the network can meet subscribers’ demand in the summer.
“As Iranian hydropower plants are not generating as much power as last year's corresponding period due to low precipitation, odds are that we will face problems in power supply in some regions,” he said.
"However, should consumers use power judiciously and set their cooling systems on 24-26 degrees, peak electricity demand can easily be handled in the summer."
The Energy Ministry’s projections show that hydropower plants’ electricity output will not exceed 6,000 MW this summe while the figure stood at 9,300 MW last summer.
The power generation reduction, coupled with the normal rise in consumption, will result in about 4,000 MW of power deficit during the current year’s peak consumption hours.
Referring to the annual 6% growth in Iran’s power consumption, Khoshkholq said the country’s power use is three times bigger than that of global average, which has made Iran the 18th largest power consumer in the world.
Houshang Falahatian, a deputy energy minister, told IRNA last year that such an increase in power consumption over one year is unprecedented anywhere in the world. "Even developed countries have never witnessed such a massive rise in one year," he said, noting that most advanced countries have made concerted efforts to curb their annual peak demand, while it continues to grow in Iran.
Iran's installed electricity capacity is currently around 80,000 MW.
According to Deputy Energy Minister Homayoun Haeri, Iran regularly imports 700 MW of electricity in summer, but it needs to increase its power purchase by 200 MW due to the unprecedented low precipitation in winter, which has cut the output of hydropower plants.
Peak Power Use
According to the Iran Grid Management Company’s data, the country’s power load peaked at 54,502 MW on Saturday, showing a jump of 6,000 MW in consumption compared with that of the previous day.
"Electricity consumption is expected to reach a peak of 58,000 megawatts in the current fiscal year (started March 21), which will be 2,600 MW more than that of last year," Mahmoud Reza Haqifam, a deputy at Iran Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company, said last month. Iran’s electricity trade balance remained positive on Saturday, as out of the total 1,103 MW swapped with neighboring countries, 817 MW accounted for exports.
The report added that power usage in the industrial sector stood at over 4,000 MW on the same day.
