Power Consumption Peaks

Electricity consumption reached a peak of 55,000 megawatts on Sunday, the highest in the current fiscal year that started in March and close to the 55,500-MW mark registered in the 2017 fiscal year.

Electricity demand is forecast to surpass 56,000 MW during the next few days, ISNA quoted Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi, the Energy Ministry spokesman for the power department as saying.

“The network load reached 58,000 megawatts during peak hours in the last fiscal and is expected to surpass 61 gigawatts this summer," he said.

Soaring temperatures during the past two weeks (35°C and moving towards 50 Centigrade in the south) has made households and businesses crank up cooling systems that are water-intensive. Majority of homes use the traditional water coolers.

Between 2006 and 2010, the national grid registered the highest power load at nights, but peak demand has shifted to summer days in the past few years.

Currently, Iran has power exchange deals with seven neighboring states. Installed capacity is around 81,000 MW.

Around 67,000 MW is produced from thermal plants, 12,000 MW from hydroelectric plants and 1,000 MW from the sole nuclear power plant in Bushehr.

Barely a few hundred kilowatts is produced from renewable and the government has said that it is in the process of boosting funding for green energy, especially solar power.