TEHRAN – Iran’s thermal power plants generated 106 million megawatt-hours of electricity since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21) up to July 13, registering a 14-percent rise compared to the previous year’s same period.

According to Esmail Namazi, the director-general of Research and Construction Office of Thermal Power Plants Holding Company (TPPH), the output of thermal power plants in the same period last year was about 93 million megawatt-hours, IRNA reported.

The official mentioned the inactivity of hydropower plants due to drought, the rising temperature, and the increase in electricity demand, as well as the inactivity of the country’s nuclear power plants on some days as reasons for the increase in electricity generation by thermal power plants.

“Thermal power plants have tried to stay active for more hours by shortening the time of their periodic repairs and fixing occasional problems in the power plant units, to compensate the electricity generation deficit in the country,” Namazi said.

He further noted that all thermal power plants across the country are currently operating at maximum capacity, and the employees of the country's electricity industry are doing their best to keep the power plants in the grid despite the new wave of coronavirus pandemic and the extreme heat.

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

This year, however, new deteriorating factors like severe drought and the decline in the country’s water resources as well as a new wave of illegal cryptocurrency mining across the country have also worsened the situation.

Iran's Power Generation, Distribution, and Transmission Company (known as Tavanir) has previously announced that the company is implementing over 40 different programs for managing the situation and to prevent blackouts in the country, however, so far these programs do not seem to be working as expected.

EF/MA