14 megaprojects underway to avoid power shortages: Minister
The Iranian Energy Ministry is preparing 14 megaprojects on stable electricity supply to avoid power shortages next summer.
Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi made the announcement in a meeting with senior officials of the country’s power industry, stressing that stable electricity supply during the peak days for energy consumption of the next year hinges on the timely overhaul of the power stations in the cold season of the current year, IRNA reported.
Saving water reserves for maximum use of the capacity of hydroelectric power plants and developing the capacity of renewable power stations can also help Iran to address problems in supplying electricity next summer, the minister added.
Speaking at the meeting, Homayoun Haeri, a deputy energy minister, said according to the Energy Ministry plans, power plants with a total production capacity of 3,629 MW will be constructed to lower outages.
“The Ministry of Energy has planned 14 megaprojects with the aim of reducing the power shortages during the peak demand of electricity of next year, six of which are related to the development of power plant capacity, two projects are related to the development of the electricity network, another two projects are in financing as three ones are related to consumption management and optimization, and one project is dedicated to the maximum use of network capabilities,” added the deputy minister.
He referred to the installation of smart electricity meters and banning the use of cryptocurrency mining centers as other plans of his ministry to reduce power shortages next year.
Iran is expected to face a 25,000-MW power shortage next summer if no measure is taken with regards to Iranian electricity network, said the head of the Niroo Research Institute (NRI) on Saturday, adding that the figure hit 19 MW during the hot days of the current Iranian year.
Speaking at the Second International Conference on Air Conditioning and Thermal and Refrigeration Facilities in Tehran, Majid Amidpour noted that during the year to March 19, nearly $96 billion of financial opportunities were missed in the country’s energy sector.
Mistakes were made in the past as industrial development was done in the country without paying attention to the energy sector, which led to electricity shortages, he criticized.
“It is expected that the private sector will come to invest, and we at the Ministry of Energy have planned different financing models for their investment,” Amidpour said.
Iran enjoys a high potential in the field of renewables and with its development, the challenges can be solved to a great extent.
The abundance of renewable resources such as solar, wind, biomass and geothermal energy in Iran, where the national power grid is under growing pressure from runaway demand, is so great that its development and expansion is inevitable.