Spokesman for Iran’s Power Industry: Iran to Increase Electricity Imports from Three Neighboring Countries

Iran’s power industry spokesman says that with increasing blackouts, the government intends to increase electricity imports and halt electricity exports.

Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi said on Sunday, June 23rd, that the government wants to increase electricity imports from the Republic of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Turkmenistan.

Last year, Iran more than doubled its electricity imports compared to 2019 and brought them to 2.7 terawatt-hours. Iran has always faced electricity shortages in summers, but this year the shortage began even in spring, and widespread blackouts have been reported in some cities over recent weeks.

On Saturday, Abdolreza Sheikhan, secretary of the cement industry employers’ association, announced that cement factories have been instructed to reduce their electricity consumption: “They said they will provide 40 percent of the electricity needed by factories during this peak consumption period. They have also specified the peak hours, but 40 percent is insufficient for factory operations and may result in reduced production, which will cause market turmoil.”

The Iranian government announced on Saturday that the country’s electricity consumption reached a record of 58,000 megawatts this year.

In official reports from the Ministry of Power and statements by Iranian officials, there is constant reference to “the country’s electricity generation capacity of 85,000 megawatts,” but details from the Ministry of Power’s statistics show that the “practical capacity” of the country’s power plants is only 62,000 megawatts at best. Many of Iran’s power plants have been out of service for years due to deterioration but are still counted in “electricity generation capacity” statistics.

Meanwhile, 12,000 megawatts of the country’s practical electricity generation capacity comes from hydroelectric power plants, which last year saw 30 percent of their production reduced due to drought. Iranian officials say that continued drought has caused the capacity of the country’s hydroelectric power plants to be cut in half this year.

Also, official statistics from the Ministry of Power show that due to network deterioration, more than 10 percent of the country’s generated electricity (approximately 40 terawatt-hours) is lost during transmission and distribution.

Over the past decade, Iran should have invested two billion dollars annually in upgrading its power network, but this has not happened.

Additionally, the natural annual growth of the country’s electricity consumption is around five percent. Last year, Iran planned to add 4,800 megawatts to the country’s electricity generation, but only about 1,800 megawatts were added. In 2019, only half of the country’s electricity generation growth targets were achieved.

Source: Iran