Despite the fact that electricity demand jumped up over the last two months, the Energy Ministry exported 2.5 million kilowatt hours of power between May 22 and August 11.
Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian made the revelation at a seminar in Tehran on Monday, IRNA reported.
The minster noted that in the past electricity export either decreased or was suspended in summer due to high and rising demand. Nonetheless, not only were exports not discontinued this year, it has increased. He did not go into details.
Peak demand hour growth soared by 1% in the past two months.
Annual power generation in Iran is 77,000 MW and average annual export is 10 million kilowatt hours, namely to Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Data released by the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran show that the treasury earned $4 billion from electricity exports between 2013 and 2018.
According to TPO, Iran exported over 42,926 million kilowatt-hours of electricity to neighbors during the period.
Heavy rainfall in March increased the volume of water in dams and 80% of dams were reported full at the start of the new fiscal year in March, adding 10,000 megawatts of electricity to the national grid, almost double compared to last year’s at 5,000 MW.
Referring to the noticeable decline in power outages, the minister noted that 15 new power plants (thermal, combined cycle and solar) with the capacity to generate 3,250 MW become operational last year. Overhauls of power plants have added close to 600 MW to the national grid.
Valuable Cooperation
"More importantly, consumption declined by an estimated 4,000 MW, thanks to the cooperation and reduced consumption of households and the agro and industrial sectors."
He said based on a contract with farmers, they are obliged to turn off their water pumps during peak hours (12 pm to 4 pm). Doing so makes them eligible for discounts in tariffs during non-peak hours.
In addition to installing 56,000 smart meters on agricultural wells in Tehran, Mashhad, Ahvaz, Zanjan and Isfahan, one million energy-intensive households and commercial units were also equipped with smart meters in the past 12 months that helped reduce consumption.
Tuning-up of 5 million evaporative coolers and one million air conditioners plus replacing 10 million fluorescent lamps with energy saving lights in state organizations also contributed to saving energy.
Tariff Incentives
Groups of industrial consumers shifted load from peak to non-peak hours qualifying for tariff discounts.
"Capacity of power substations, including transmission and distribution, has also increased by 10,000 megavolt ampere since March," he said, adding that the capacity of substations currently is 107,000 megavolt amperes.
Regarding power wastage in the national grid, Ardakanian said, “In 2014 power loss reached 15%, but has been cut to 11%.”
Nonetheless, Iran is still among countries in which massive volumes of power is wasted.
If waste was not cut (at least by 4%), the government would be forced to build new power stations to produce at least 2,500 MW costing $1.7 billion. To generate 2,500 MW approximately 8 billion cubic meters of natural gas is needed.
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), Mexico (13.7%) are the top six.
Replacing old and defective equipment, transmission lines, utility posts, cables and electric meters as well as curbing illegal use (theft) of electricity are among measures taken by relevant bodies to reduce electricity loss.
