Malek Shariati, a member of the Energy Commission of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament) has reported that Iran’s power plants consume $30 billion worth of fuel annually due to their low efficiency.
Malek Shariati told Mehr News Agency on Saturday, January 11, that the efficiency of Iran’s power plants is very low, around 37%, which results in the wastage of a massive amount of fuel.
More than 90% of Iran’s electricity is generated from thermal power plants that run on natural gas, fuel oil, diesel, and coal. Last year, Iran’s power plants consumed approximately 84 billion cubic meters of natural gas, 10 billion liters of diesel, 6 billion liters of fuel oil, and some coal.
Aging and Low-EfficiencyPower Plants Worsen Iran’s Electricity Shortage
The market value of this amount of fuel in regional markets exceeds $30 billion.
Iran has faced an escalating energy crisis this year, leading the government to impose frequent power outages and shut down offices and schools.
On January 5, the regime’s Minister of Energy stated that the country faced a 20,000-megawatt electricity deficit this summer and warned that this figure could rise to 25,000 megawatts next year.
Despite efforts over the past two decades, the Iranian regime has failed to successfully upgrade its low-efficiency gas and steam power plants to higher-efficiency combined-cycle plants. Moreover, many of the power plants built in recent years are still low-efficiency gas and steam plants.
Currently, combined-cycle power plants account for only 38% of the country’s total electricity generation capacity.
Recommendation to Use Polluting Coal as Fuel
Shariati, without mentioning the potential for developing clean energy sources such as solar and wind power, suggested using coal as an alternative fuel for power plants.
Without acknowledging the severe pollution caused by coal consumption, he stated: “Currently, our use of coal is zero. Therefore, we can diversify our power plants to avoid fuel shortages.”
Contrary to his claim, Iran’s coal consumption is not zero; in fact, it has doubled in less than a decade.
Previously, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the regime’s Majlis, had also promoted the use of highly polluting coal in power plants.
Iranian regime officials have remained silent about the rising coal consumption in the country, but data from BP and the International Energy Agency (IEA) indicates that in 2023, Iran generated around 900 gigawatt-hours of electricity by burning coal, which is three times the amount at the beginning of the last decade.
Iran currently ranks seventh in the world for greenhouse gas emissions, yet despite this reality, the Iranian regime plans to build over 5,000 megawatts of coal-fired power plant capacity by 2042.
