TEHRAN – Iran’s electricity generation increased by 6.4 percent in 2021, making the Islamic Republic the world’s 11th largest electricity producer last year, according to British Petroleum (BP)’s latest global energy report dubbed “Statistical Review of World Energy”.

Based on the mentioned report, Iran managed to generate 357.8 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2021, 20.6 terawatt-hours more than the figure for the previous year.

The average annual growth of electricity production in Iran during the ten-year period ending in 2021 is estimated at 4.3 percent, the report said.

The Islamic Republic accounted for 1.3 percent of the world’s total electricity generation in the said year.

British Petroleum statistics show that Iran's nuclear electricity generation in 2021 faced a 44.2 percent drop compared to the previous year. Iran accounted for 0.1 percent of the world's nuclear electricity generation in the said year.

Iran joined the world’s nuclear power producing countries a decade ago with the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant.

The U.S. is the world’s leading country in using nuclear power for electricity generation, accounting for 29.3 percent of the world’s total nuclear electricity generation.

The world’s total electricity generation in 2021 was reported to be 13,994.4 terawatt-hours, indicating an increase of 8.4 percent compared to the previous year. BP had put the world's electricity generation in 2020 at 12,949.3 terawatt-hours.

China was the world’s top electricity generator in 2021, accounting for 30 percent of the global electricity generation, while the U.S. was the second-biggest electricity provider, followed by India.

The Islamic Republic’s total power generation capacity currently stands at about 85,500 gigawatts, most of which is supplied by thermal power plants.

Combined cycle power plants account for the most significant share of the country’s total power generation capacity followed by gas power plants.

Over the past decade, constant temperature rising and the significant decrease in rainfalls across Iran have put the country in a hard situation regarding electricity supply during peak consumption periods.

In this regard, the Iranian Energy Ministry has been following new programs to meet the country’s power demand during peak periods and to prevent outages.

Constructing new units in the country’s power plants and also building new power plants for major industries are among the mentioned programs that are being pursued seriously by the ministry in collaboration with other related government entities.

EF/MA