Harmonizing Iran and Russia’s electricity grids is the most viable and inexpensive option to help ease frequent power cuts during hot summer days when power load maximizes in Iran, the energy minister’s advisor for international affairs said.
“Iran needs to synchronize its power grid with that of Russia because otherwise it has to invest billions of dollars to construct new power stations to bridge the widening gap between supply and demand,” Mohammad Ali Farahnakian was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
Iran’s Energy Ministry is expecting power deficit of at least 5,000 megawatts between June and July, for which three large thermal power plants should be built, he added.
“Regardless of the long time to implement such plans, investing in such projects is beyond the government’s financial ability as it has been grappling with ballooning budget deficit for years. The private sector is not willing to invest in loss-making power sector ventures, so the best alternative is to harmonize Iran’s power network with that of neighboring nations, including Russia, Turkey and Turkmenistan.”
According to the official, electricity demand peaks in Iran between June and July, and this is exactly the period when Russia’s demand reduces and the surplus can be imported to Iran.
“Feasibility studies on the synchronization of Iran and Russia’s power grids, which started in 2018, are almost complete and work to connect the networks is projected to start early May,” he added.
Farahnakian said executive operations were supposed to commence last September, but assessments of the practicality of the proposed project were not ready and the work was postponed.
“There are two routes through which our power grid can be connected to Russia’s: one is via the Republic of Azerbaijan and the other through Armenia and Georgia,” he added.
In 2015, Iran and Azerbaijan signed a memorandum of understanding on the exchange of electricity.
Iran’s annual electricity export to neighbors is close to 6 billion kilowatt hours with the bulk going to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.
Swap Agreement
Azerbaijan and Armenia supply close to 700 megawatts to Iran under a swap agreement.
In 2018, Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran created a working group to conduct feasibility studies to synchronize their power systems, which is yet to be completed.
The trilateral workgroup included 18 people (six from each side) with a mandate for undertaking a feasibility study on integrating the power systems of the three Caspian states to create the North-South power corridor.
In 2020, Azeri Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow and voiced his country's support for the implementation of joint projects, including the construction of the International North-South Transport Corridor.
Construction work is in progress for the third Iran-Armenia power transmission line, the completion of which will boost the potential of electricity trade not only between the two countries but also with Georgia and Russia.
Work on the high-voltage transmission line is expected to become complete by April. The line is designed to boost Armenia’s electricity export to Iran, which is paid for with natural gas via a 140-km gas pipeline.
As per the 2004 deal, Iran sells gas to Armenia and in exchange imports electricity in summer. Iran's natural gas is used by the republic to generate electricity that is exported to Iran.
Tehran receives 3.2 kilowatt-hours of electricity from Yerevan in exchange for 1 cubic meter of natural gas.
Distribution, Transmission Lines
According to Homayoun Haeri, a deputy energy minister, power loss in distribution and transmission lines nationwide extending over 1 million kilometers, has declined to 10%.
The wastage has fallen by 5% compared to 2014 when it was as high as 15%. Replacing aging equipment, power lines, utility posts, cables and electric meters, and fighting illegal use were among measures adopted to reduce the loss, he added.
Wastage in the grid decreased to 14% in 2015 and the descending order continued to reach 13%, 12%, 11%, 10.5% and 10% in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively.
Plans are underway to reduce it to 9% by 2022.
“The substantial decline helped us save 17 billion kWh of power in the five-year period,” the official said.
Although power loss in Iran is still high (close to 6,000 megawatts per day), it is less than in Brazil, Turkey, Hungary, India and Croatia.
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) and Mexico (13.7%) are the top six.
According to Energy Ministry reports, $500 million are required to cut electricity waste to less than 9%, in which case Iran will have the same ranking as Portugal and Spain.
Power wastage in China, the US, France, Italy, England, South Africa and Canada is as low as 5.5%, 5.9%, 6.4%, 6.7%, 8.3%, 8.4% and 8.9% respectively.
Global average power loss is around 8.3%, still a far cry for Iran.
