Minister assures stable power supply for looming summer peak
Iran’s Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi said on Monday that the country faces no electricity production shortfall and is in a much better position to secure energy supplies this summer, as authorities focus on curbing rising consumption and expanding renewable capacity.
“The most important policy of the new period at the Energy Ministry is to control consumption growth and move toward reducing energy use,” Aliabadi said during a ceremony marking the launch of this year’s summer peak-demand management programs and the unveiling of the “25 Degrees, A Pact of Solidarity” campaign, according to IRNA.
Aliabadi said Iran currently had no deficit in electricity generation capacity but needed to reach a level this year that would allow it to manage peak demand, adding that the entire power system should be aligned with that objective.
He said the ministry’s approach was aimed at preventing unchecked growth in energy consumption and, if possible, reversing the trend, noting that energy demand growth in Iran was not consistent with population growth and needed to be corrected.
The ministry’s spokesperson earlier expressed that electricity demand was expected to rise “by more than 5% this year,” after Iran’s peak electricity consumption hovered around 79,000 megawatts last summer.
“The Energy Ministry’s goal is that, alongside consumption management, by making the business environment more attractive and increasing production capacity, we move toward eliminating imbalances and achieving a positive energy balance,” Aliabadi said.
He said the government should move toward smart restrictions and capacity management instead of power outages, adding that around 70% of electricity consumption could serve as a useful indicator for planning and management.
“This means we can make consumption more rational without putting pressure on people,” he said.
The minister also stressed the need to prepare infrastructure for changes in energy consumption patterns, particularly in transportation, to reduce energy waste.
“The necessary infrastructure must be provided on streets to supply people’s energy needs through electricity. If we had created these infrastructures earlier, we could have supplied a large portion of the required electrical energy,” he said.
According to Mehr News Agency, Aliabadi said the electricity demand of one million electric vehicles would be negligible compared with the large volumes of gasoline and diesel they would replace.
“We must move toward meeting people’s needs through secondary energy sources such as electricity, and in this regard, the development of renewable resources in line with the country’s climate is a priority,” he said.
Also on Monday, Majid Ansari, the vice president for legal affairs, said in a joint meeting with the energy minister that achieving 15,000 megawatts of renewable energy capacity through the expansion of solar power plants was one of the ministry’s main missions.
Deputy Energy Minister Mohsen Tarztalab last week said the ministry was pursuing the consolidation of clean energy projects to raise Iran’s renewable energy capacity to around 7,000 megawatts by late June, with the aim of reducing fossil fuel consumption, particularly natural gas and diesel.