Iran's Electricity Demand Matches Germany's, Says Minister

According to SAEDNEWS, Iran's energy minister, Ali Akbar Mehrabian, revealed that the country's electricity demand has surged in recent years, reaching levels similar to those of industrial and populous nations like Germany. According to Mehrabian, Iran's power demand has reached an unprecedented 79 gigawatts (GW) this summer, comparable to Germany's 80 GW demand and significantly higher than Turkey's 50 GW and Egypt's 30 GW.

The minister disclosed that Iran has added over 10 GW of new electricity generation capacity in the past three years, with an additional 8 GW currently under construction. To create just 1 GW of new power plant capacity, Iran estimates it will need to spend nearly $1 billion.

Iran has a total of nearly 100 GW of electricity generation capacity, with a majority coming from thermal power plants. The country experienced a significant increase in power demand this summer, with a 9% rise compared to last year, largely due to record temperatures and rising demand for cooling.

Mehrabian noted that Iran has seen an average increase of 15.2 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in its annual electricity production over the past three years, reaching a current total of 332 billion kWh. Additionally, the total number of customers on the Iranian power grid has increased by 3 million, reaching 40.7 million since August 2021, when Mehrabian took over as energy minister.