TEHRAN - Iran Water and Power Resources Development Company, as a subsidiary of the Energy Ministry, is going to implement a program for maximizing the use of potentials in the country’s hydropower plants, IRIB reported.

According to the company’s Managing Director Seyed Hassan Razavi, optimal use of existing capacities, updating worn-out plants, increasing the efficiency of power plants, and increasing the level of technology are among the goals of the mentioned program.

Making the remarks in a meeting of the Parliament Energy Committee for reviewing the status of the country’s dams and hydropower plants, Razavi stressed: “We can make better use of the country's capacities to generate electricity from water resources.”

The said program is part of a comprehensive plan called “development and elimination of obstacles in the country's electricity industry”, the official said.

Razavi pointed to the construction of medium- and small-scale hydropower plants as one of the programs pursued by the Energy Ministry and added: “These power plants will generate up to 10 megawatts of electricity and can be built in many provinces because they can be constructed along the water transfer paths.”

In this meeting, the members of the mentioned committee and other attendees also made suggestions regarding the support of the hydropower industry including allocating the funds for the implementation of priority hydropower projects in the next year budget bill and preparing the ground for the development of such power plants in the Seventh National Development Plan.

Considered the recent drought and severe decline of rainfalls across the country the electricity provided by the country’s hydropower plants has declined significantly.

Iran’s current power generation capacity stands at about 85 GW of which the share of hydroelectric power stands at nearly 16 percent.

The country’s total power generation capacity stood at about 83,350 MW at the end of the past Iranian calendar year 1398 (March 19), up from the 80,000 MW of its preceding year.

Currently, combined cycle power plants account for the biggest share in the country’s total power generation capacity followed by gas power plants.

EF/MA