TEHRAN – Iran's annual power generation capacity growth rate stands at 2.2 percent, significantly lower than the global average of 4.6 percent, Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the fifth National Development Fund conference under the theme “Governance of Development and Addressing Imbalances,” Aliabadi outlined both the achievements and challenges facing Iran’s power sector.

He said the country’s total installed capacity has risen from 57,000 megawatts in 1979 to 94,633 megawatts today. Power generation has increased 22-fold since the Islamic Revolution, compared to a 3.4-fold increase globally. Meanwhile, peak consumption hours have grown by 2.3 times, and energy output has multiplied 13 times.

Aliabadi emphasized Iran’s technical capabilities, calling the country the region’s leader in power engineering, particularly in thermal power generation.

He sought to reassure investors, saying sanctions should not be a concern, as challenges in the energy sector can be managed domestically.

Electricity access now reaches 97.6 percent of urban areas and 83.9 percent of rural regions. About 81 percent of the country’s power is generated from thermal plants, 2 percent from renewables, 3 percent from distributed generation, and 1 percent from nuclear sources.

Aliabadi noted that Iran ranks 18th globally in annual installed capacity growth, while China leads the list. He added that energy consumption in Iran remains below the global average.

He also reported the discovery of 248,000 illegal cryptocurrency mining machines and said that Iranian power plants operate with an efficiency of between 30 and 36 percent.

Highlighting the link between energy consumption and wealth creation, Aliabadi stressed that understanding this dynamic is vital for national economic planning.

He praised the stability of Iran’s power grid, saying that no major blackouts have occurred in the past 22 years, even as countries like Spain and Portugal experienced outages in 2025.

The minister warned that decentralizing control to provinces had undermined grid coordination and posed risks to system stability. Given the dynamic nature of the grid, he said, maintaining its resilience—particularly as Iran exchanges electricity with neighboring countries—remains a top priority.

Aliabadi acknowledged that investment in the electricity sector has slowed since 2018, while consumption has surged, partly due to unauthorized usage and shifting lifestyles in some provinces. The government is now focused on demand-side management and modern infrastructure.

He said that while thermal power generation has increased by 95 percent, rainfall has dropped by 41 percent. Iran’s electricity demand in 2021 stood at 57,000 megawatts, a level expected to remain steady this year. Around 500 megawatts of new capacity is being added each month, and numerous projects are underway.

EF/