Iran can earn substantial revenues from electricity exports to regional markets to compensate reductions in the exports of other low value-added energy products like oil and gas, the deputy minister of energy said. "The country exports electricity to neighboring countries, namely Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey and Iraq, which has recently reached zero due to increasing domestic demand," Homayoun Haeri was quoted as saying by LNA on Tuesday.
"Under swap deals, Iran exports electricity to Armenia and Azerbaijan in winter and imports it when domestic demand soars in summer," he added.
Haeri noted that raising exports to Afghanistan and Pakistan is a priority of his ministry, but the sizzling summer has hampered such plans.
"During peak demands, the export rate comes down to zero, while imports rise," he said.
Iran is the largest exporter and importer of electricity in the Middle East, which plays the role of central power distributor in the region, with an installed power generating capacity of around 80,000 MW. Iran's electricity industry ranks 14th in the world in terms of output. Electricity consumption is expected to reach a peak of 58,000 megawatts in summer, which will be 2,600 MW more than that of last year.
Iran currently imports 700 MW of electricity in summer, but it needs to increase its power purchase by 200 MW due to unprecedented low precipitation in winter, which has cut the output of hydropower plants.
“As Iranian hydropower plants are not generating as much power as last year's corresponding period due to low precipitation, the odds are strong that we will face problems in power supply in some regions,” he said.
The reduction in power generation, 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.
Haeri stressed that "effective measures and prudent strategies should be implemented to overcome the problem". "A rise of 1 degree Celsius in the country's average temperature increases power consumption by 1,000 to 1,500 megawatts of electricity," he said. Gholamreza Khoshkholq, the managing director of Tehran Regional Electricity Company, said on Sunday the prudent use of electricity at certain hours could have a major impact on consumption rate.
Khoshkholq added that the important point is to optimize consumption between 12 noon and 4 p.m. so that the network can meet subscribers’ demand in the summer. 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.
