TEHRAN – Iran’s Energy Ministry has started a plan for providing 25,000 nomadic households across the country with portable photovoltaic systems so that they could use electricity during migration.

According to the program’s Executive Director Ali Chehel-Amirani, the plan is set to be completed by the Iranian calendar year of 1400 (starts in March 2021), the portal of the Energy Ministry (known as Paven) reported on Monday.

Pointing to the fact that since the 1970s Islamic revolution, every day four villages have been connected to the national power network, the official said, “The number of villages connected to the electricity grid has increased 13 times since the revolution and now exceeds 57,350.”

“During the last six years, 35 trillion rials (about $834 million) has been spent for development, maintenance and upgrading of the rural electricity grid and electricity supply to villages without electricity, 3.5 times more than the figure for six years ago,” Chehel-Amirani added.

He further noted that the country’s electricity network has been expanded by 250,000 kilometers to supply electricity to 21.5 million people in rural areas, adding that for the current year, the ministry has planned for spending 15 trillion rials (about $357 million) for supplying electricity to 400 new villages as well as development, upgrading and maintenance of existing rural electricity networks.

Referring to the fact that nearly 99.7 percent of the country’s rural population are currently supplied with electricity, he said “According to the information provided by the International Energy Agency (IEA), this figure is 86 percent in Central and South America, 85 percent in Asia, 78 percent in the Middle East and 36 percent in Africa.”

“Our country is in very good condition in terms of rural electricity supply,” he added.

EF/MA