Iranian electricity demand has been rising rapidly in recent years, but available generation capacity has stayed virtually flat as problems at aging facilities have offset additions. Last year’s gap between peak demand and peak supply blew out to a massive 11.9GW, and Iran imposed domestic restrictions and curtailed exports to Iraq in a bid to keep the lights on (MEES, 4 March).

To help cope with this year’s summer demand peak, Tehran aims to add 6GW in new power generation capacity. However, summer is rapidly approaching, and so far only 1.6GW of this has come online. (CONTINUED - 1219 WORDS)