Power consumption in Iran has risen by an average 5.5% per annum in the past 40 years – an increase over and above the population growth rate. The growing consumption has become a cause for concern because infrastructure expansion has not kept pace with the systemic rise in summer demand.
The outcome is that the government faces difficulty supplying some regions with a stable source of electricity, especially during the hot summers, and power outages become inevitable, ISNA reported.
“Energy Ministry data show peak electricity use was 3,600 megawatts in 1979. Consumption surpassed 57,000 MW this summer – up 16 times,” managing director of Power Management and Surveillance Affairs at the ministry said.
This is while “the population increased from about 34 million four decades ago to 82 million now – up 2.5 times,” Mohammad-Ali Farahnakian added.
In 2017, Iran generated almost 311 terawatt hours of electricity (1TWh = equals 1000 gigawatt hours or 1 million megawatt hours), while annual electricity consumption was 243TWh.
Having excess electricity for most part of the year (minus summers) the government exports power to neighboring countries including Iraq, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Pakistan.
During summers, however, electricity exports are suspended due to the surge in domestic consumption and the Energy Ministry is compelled to import electricity from neighbors including the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The latest International Energy Agency data show Iran ranks 14th in electricity generation in the world and is 18th in power consumption.
Incomprehensible Pattern
However, a glance at the list of countries with higher consumption (China, US, India, Japan, Russia, Germany, Brazil, South Korea, France, UK, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Mexico, Spain and Australia) shows all of these nations have better GDP numbers compared to Iran.
A list compiled by the International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook (2017) shows that all the above mentioned countries had better growth rates than Iran. The US tops the list with a GDP of 19.4 trillion followed by China, Japan, Germany and the UK.
Among the 17 nations with the highest consumption, Taiwan had the lowest GDP ($585 billion) and ranked 22nd. The high electricity use in these countries can and should be seen in the context of their relatively healthy economies underpinned by their industrial growth.
But this cannot be said about Iran. In the IMF list Iran is 27th with a GDP of $439 billion. While Iran’s economy has faced more than its share of problems and its industries grapple with unending challenges (partly due to the US sanctions), it must be said that the primary reasons for the high power consumption is “injudicious consumption and electricity loss (during transmission and distribution),” Farahnakian said.
Global Consumption Rising
According to the Global Energy Statistical Yearbook 2018, electricity consumption globally increases at a faster pace than other energy sectors due to electrification of energy use.
Most of the increase in global electricity consumption in 2017 was in Asia. In 2016, electricity consumption growth in China, amid industrial recovery and despite stringent energy efficiency rules, contributed to more than half of the world electricity consumption increase.
Power demand also grew in Japan for the first time since 2013. Similar trends were seen in India, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey.
Electricity consumption in the United States, which had remained relatively stable since 2011 due to energy efficiency technology, declined for the second year in a row in 2017. Consumption was of the ascending order In Canada.
In Europe, it remained stable in most member states of the European Union. Italy, Poland, Germany, and Spain reported higher consumption.
