TEHRAN – Spokesman of Iran’s electricity sector says investment making in the power industry’s equipment sector is expected to double in the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 20, 2021), IRIB reported.

“The flow of investment into the electricity industry will be seriously pursued, and the mechanisms needed for funding projects in this sector will be on the agenda,” Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi said.

Referring to the fact that nearly 60 percent of the country's electricity is generated by the power plants operated by the private sector, Rajabi Mashhadi noted that the government should support this sector and pave the way for them to invest in the industry even more.

He noted that about 150 trillion rials (about $3.57 billion) of investment is attracted in the industry every year, but the amount of annual realized resources is about 70 to 80 trillion rials (up to $1.7 billion).

This has forced the Energy Ministry to prioritize the projects in this sector, he added.

The official further mentioned the 3.9 percent increase in the country’s electricity consumption since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20) and said, prioritization of the projects is done based on regional power companies, distribution requirements, and also based on the requirements for maintaining the sustainability of the network, all of which are based on technical and specialized studies.

Earlier this month, Rajabi Mashhadi announced that the electricity consumption in Iran since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year up to May 6 increased by five percent compared to the same period last year.

According to the official, despite the coronavirus outbreak which led to the closure of some industrial units, the country’s electricity consumption has increased.

The nominal capacity of electricity generation at Iranian power plants reached 85,500 megawatts [85.5 gigawatts (GW)] in April.

EF/MA