Iran’s Crypto Mining Uses 14% of Peak-Summer Electricity Deficit
Mining consumes an estimated 700 million kilowatt-hours monthly and carries an annual fuel-equivalent burden of about $1.5 billion.
Cryptocurrency mining in Iran is estimated to consume 930 to 1,200 megawatts, equivalent to about 14% of the country’s monthly electricity deficit during peak summer demand and adding pressure to an already strained grid.
Mining uses about 700 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each month, compared with an average monthly deficit of 5 billion kilowatt-hours during peak demand. Across the broader four-month warm season, mining accounts for about 6% of the total electricity imbalance.
Supplying the mining load through thermal power plants would require about 8.46 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually and 2.1 billion cubic meters of gas-equivalent fuel. At a diesel-import cost of at least 70 cents per liter, the annual fuel burden would reach about $1.5 billion, excluding electricity-conversion costs and lost economic output.
Removing mining demand could increase the share of summer hours without an electricity deficit from 5.2% to 33.6%.
The figures are difficult to calculate because unauthorized operators can conceal equipment and draw electricity outside official records. Multiple estimation methods were used, and the results do not establish mining as the main cause of Iran’s power deficit.
A separate estimate based on a nationwide internet shutdown found a 927-megawatt reduction in base network load during an overnight measurement window. The decline may also have included data centers, servers and other internet-dependent infrastructure, so it cannot be attributed entirely to cryptocurrency mining.
The estimate is below an earlier assessment by Mohammad Allahdad, Tavanir deputy director of power generation, transmission and distribution. Allahdad previously put mining consumption near 2,000 megawatts and its share of Iran’s power deficit at as much as 20%.
“While this represents around 5% of total electricity consumption, it accounts for up to 20% of the current power deficit,” Allahdad said.
Iran’s estimates highlight the trade-off between low-cost electricity for mining and pressure on the national grid. Kazakhstan has separately established a framework for using oil- and gas-field resources to generate electricity for mining operations independently of the national system, as outlined in Kazakhstan’s framework for using oil-field gas to power crypto mining.
