Tehran Power Grid Sustainability at Risk

EghtesadOnline: Half of electricity network installations in Tehran, Alborz and Qom provinces are over 20 years old, raising the vulnerability of the grid, the head of Tehran Regional Electricity Company said.

News ID: ۷۴۵۹۷۴

04 September 2018

“About 20% of the national power grid’s generation and transmission facilities and 25% of the country’s subscribers, numbering about 18 million people residing in the three provinces, are covered by Tehran Regional Electricity Company,” Gholamreza Khoshkholq was also quoted as saying by IRNA on the sidelines of a news briefing on Monday.

Khoshkholq added that the aging facilities put the grid’s sustainability at risk, which is planned to be tackled by implementing an optimization plan.  According to the official, the company’s power consumption peaked on July 22, reaching 10,182 megawatts that was 0.9% higher than the last fiscal’s peak consumption.

“We predicted that peak demand would hit 10,600 MW in the current fiscal [started March 21], but the company managed to reduce more than 400 megawatts from the power load by taking management measures,” Financial Tribune quoted him as saying.

Khoshkholq noted that several small-scale power plants have so far been launched by the Tehran Regional Electricity Company, the output of which is guaranteed to be purchased by the administration for five years.

The official stressed that based on current tariffs, the Energy Ministry purchases each kilowatt-hour of the small-scale power plants’ output at 1,000 rials (2.3 cents), while the same amount of electricity is priced at 700 rials (1.6 cents) when supplied to subscribers.  Khoshkholq announced that the tariff is being reviewed, as it should be set not only to return the investment of power producers, but also to enable the ministry pay the subsidy it provides to support private investors.

Mahmoud Haqifam, a deputy at Iran Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company, had earlier said that the ministry is weighing up a plan based on which power subscribers whose consumption patterns are both lower than theirs in the corresponding period of the last fiscal and the average pattern, will be remunerated in proportion to the amount of electricity saving.

According to the official, the actual cost of producing every kilowatt-hour of electricity was calculated at 960 rials (2.2 cents) by the Plan and Budget Organization in the last fiscal year.

“This is while the industry officials had announced that the cost was at 1,100 rials (2.6 cents) per kWh.”

Haqifam noted that the electricity price for subscribers has met a rise of 7% in the present fiscal, which will not have any marked influence in consumption patterns, as the rise is meager.

To reduce domestic consumption, Haqifam urged the need for cutting electricity subsidy and raising awareness about judicious consumption.