Gholamreza Khoshkholq, managing director of Tehran Regional Electricity Company, said the city of Tehran and its suburban areas have an installed power generation capacity of 12,000 megawatts, while expecting peak consumption in Tehrans sweltering summer to exceed last years peak demand of 9,000 MW.
We are planning to bring on stream an additional 1,000 MW capacity from [power plants with] distributed generation system in the long run via the private sector, he was quoted as saying by ILNA.
Khoshkholq said the regions electric capacity has already increased by 100 MW compared to last year and another 100 MW is in line to be added to the regional grid.
Rise in population and the need to power more cooling systems are the main drivers of the upward trend in power usage during the hot season.
Data suggest that the citizens of Tehran should be bracing for a sizzling summer, as the capitals temperature reached a record high of 31 degrees Celsius in late April, which was unparalleled at this time of the year in at least 50 years.
Power consumption nationwide peaked at 47,000 MW last year. According to officials, Irans power grid had the capacity to sustain a peak usage of 50,000 MW last year without suffering outages. The threshold has increased to 54,000 MW this year.
Officials have predicted an 8% rise in Irans overall electricity consumption in summer, which could translate into a shortage of 3,000 megawatts.
Irans installed power capacity is close to 74,000 MW. Its power industry ranks 14th in the world and first in the Middle East in terms of electricity generation.
By Financial Tribune
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