Whilst Iran’s controversial nuclear program is typically assessed from a geopolitical perspective, its viability as a component in Iran’s electricity sector often goes overlooked. Increasingly common blackouts reveal woeful power shortages and sparked protests in January (MEES, 24 January) which will continue to grow worse absent substantial investment.
On paper, Iran has 74GW of thermal power capacity out of a total of 91.2GW, which primarily runs on natural gas. In reality available thermal capacity typically peaks just above 50GW. As well as nuclear, Iran also has 12GW of hydropower capacity – which is struggling with drought – and around 1GW of solar and wind. (CONTINUED - 560 WORDS)
