On that date, the current Iranian calendar year will come to an end and the government had initially been aiming to inaugurate 22 new power plant units with a total capacity of 3,933 MW in the current Iranian year. In addition, it wanted to upgrade several existing plants and increase their power generation efficiently.
The aim was to reach a total installed capacity of 85,695 MW by the end of the current Iranian calendar year, up from currently 80,311 MW. The most recent capacity additions were small-scale distributed power plants combined-cycle power plants, as well as renewables.
NIGC boost pressure on gas grid
Striving to increase gas supply to Iranian power plants, National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) has said it increase the pressure on the grid to an all-time high. In consequence, gas supply to power plants now has reached 120 million cubic meters (mcm) per day.
Elaborating on the winter squeeze, NIGC said gas consumption by the households reached 600 mcm due to the extreme cold weather; hence gas supply to the power plants was reduced to 40 million cubic meters “just for two days.” Natural gas accounts for the largest share of the Iranian power mix, with 31.2 percent of total supply being produced by combined-cycle gas power plants, 29.9 percent from open-cycle gas units, followed by nearly 15 percent hydropower.
Iran currently produces some 810 mcm of natural gas per day, according to NIGC figure, mostly for the Iranian industry and domestic use as well as for power generation. As small portion of Iran’s gas production is exported to Armenia and Iraq.
Eager to avert energy shortages the government is implementing demand-side response mechanisms that helped reduce peakload power requirements by some 4,000 MW over the past summer. Some eight million household consumed less electricity than anticipated by Iran’s central planning body. The ministry said it hope this trend will continue for summer 2020.