TEHRAN – Energy Minister Ali-Akbar Mehrabian has said his ministry plans to construct and put into operation 21 new power plant units by the next summer’s peak consumption period (Iranian calendar’s summer begins on June 22), the Energy Ministry Portal Paven reported on Tuesday.

According to Mehrabian, his ministry is following a comprehensive program for adding 30,000 megawatts (MW) to the country’s power generation capacity by the end of the current government incumbency.

Speaking in a meeting with the members of the Parliament Energy Committee on Tuesday evening, the minister said: “According to the plan submitted to the parliament, the Ministry of Energy will increase the capacity of the country’s power plants by 30,000 megawatts.”

"Currently, for the next year’s summer peak [consumption period], we are taking the necessary measures to bring 21 new [power plant] units on stream; Of course, the exact schedule for the operation of these units is prepared and will be provided in the form of weekly reports,” he added.

He further noted that the construction of 10,000 MW capacity of power plants has also been started by various industrial sectors, saying: “four major industries have started their work in the field of power plant construction. Based on the contract concluded with these industries, the said industries will not be provided with electricity from the national grid if they cannot deliver the power plants based on the specified schedule.”

Over 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.

In this regard, the Energy Ministry has been following new programs to meet the country’s power demand during peak periods and to prevent outages.

Constructing new units in the country’s power plants and also building new power plants for major industries are among the mentioned programs that are being pursued seriously by the ministry in collaboration with other related government entities.

Back in July, Deputy Industry, Mining, and Trade Minister Saeed Zarandi had announced the signing of an MOU with the Energy Ministry for constructing power plants for big industries.

“Since earlier this year, the Industry Ministry, on behalf of the industrial sector, started seeking a permit for building 13 power plants. We held several meetings with Tavanir [Iran's Power Generation, Distribution, and Transmission Company] and the Energy Ministry and proposed to sign a memorandum of understanding with the ministry. We also sent a letter to the Energy Ministry last week to expedite the issuance of the permit,” the official explained.

According to Zarandi, the mentioned power plants are financed by 12 investors from various industrial sectors and will be constructed within 2.5-3 years.

One of the main goals of this program is to provide reliable and sustainable electricity to high-consuming industries and the country’s industrial parks in order to reduce the pressure imposed on the national grid in the industry and mining sector, according to Zarandi.

“If these power plants are built, a significant load will be removed from the national electricity distribution network,” he stressed.

The official further noted that in case of any surplus electricity generation, the industrial units can sell the surplus electricity to the Energy Ministry.

EF/MA