Iran added 668 MW of electricity generating capacity in the past week, including 70 MW of solar, Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi said on July 26, as the country contends with summer power shortages and rolling blackouts.

The additions are modest against a supply gap that state media has put at roughly 20,000 MW at peak, and against private-sector demand for renewable projects the ministry has estimated at 78,000 MW. Iran's annual capacity growth of about 2.2% runs well below the global average, leaving generation persistently short of demand during the hottest months.

Aliabadi said around 100 MW was being added weekly. A 160 MW combined-cycle unit at Asaluyeh, valued at IRR260tn ($142mn), had been synchronised and was connected to the national grid, he said, while a high-capacity unit at Ferdowsi in Mashhad was in its final stages.

On hydropower, the minister said a 55 MW unit and two 5 MW small plants, totalling 65 MW at the Chamshir facility, had come online, with the first unit ready to connect to the grid.

A further 100 MW of solar capacity would enter service this week, Aliabadi said, describing all the projects as newly built and completed at speed under difficult conditions.

Iran's power sector has been strained by years of underinvestment, subsidised tariffs and gas shortages that divert fuel from power stations in winter.

The country has leaned on solar expansion to close part of the gap, drawing private capital into a segment where the ministry says appetite far outstrips installed capacity.