Iran’s Energy Ministry says electricity production capacity in the country rose by 2.2 percent in the year to late March to reach a total of 85.313 gigawatts (GW).
A Sunday report by the state-run electricity company Tavanir said that total power output capacity in the country had increased by 1.084 GW in the calendar year to March 20 with the addition of nine major power plants and scores of small-scale renewable and non-renewable generation units.
However, the report said that actual electricity output had amounted to 343,000 gigawatt hours (GWh) over the same period which roughly translates to over 39 GW of production capacity. It added that output in the year to March was 5.1 percent higher than the previous year.
Thermal power stations, where heat is converted to electricity, had the largest share of power output at peak hours last calendar year, it said, adding that thermal power capacity had increased by 5.8 percent to nearly 49 GW.
Tavanir figures showed that the combined share of renewables, nuclear and hydropower units in the country’s generation capacity had declined by 15.2 percent year on year to stand at just over 9GW in late March.
Iran struggled to respond to a larger-than-expected demand for electricity over the winter when families spent more time at homes because of nighttime curfews imposed by the government to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
That came as several power plants were forced to close down because of a rise in natural gas consumption by the households.
The increased demand caused a handful of unexpected but brief blackouts in large cities including the capital Tehran.