TEHRAN – Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian, on Tuesday, inaugurated six electricity projects worth 2.4 trillion rials (about $57.14 million) in Kerman and Yazd provinces through video conference.

Inaugurated in the 37th week of the Energy Ministry’s A-B-Iran Program, two of the mentioned projects were put into operation in Kerman province and the other four were inaugurated in Yazd province.

A six-megawatt small-scale power plant and power supply to 11 villages with 128 households were the projects inaugurated in Kerman province, while a 10-MW solar farm, modification and optimization and overhaul of substations and transmission lines, as well as electricity supply to six villages with 96 households were some of the projects put into operation in Yazd.

As reported, the mentioned projects have been put into operation with the aim of increasing the reliability of the electricity network, reducing unwanted blackouts, reducing electricity losses, supplying electricity to industrial sectors, and creating employment in the downstream industries.

A-B-Iran program (the acronyms A and B stand for water and electricity in Persian) was initiated in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19, 2020), during which the minister made 31 trips to various provinces for inaugurating over 220 major projects with a total investment of 335.6 trillion rials (about $7.99 billion).

Since the beginning of the second phase of the scheme in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 20, 2020), every week several energy projects have gone operational across the country.

Back in December, Ardakanian had said that “in the second phase of the program 250 projects are going to be inaugurated by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20) of which so far 154 have gone operational.”

The official noted that a total of 500 trillion rials (about $11.9 billion) of investment will be made in the mentioned 250 projects.

Earlier this month, President Hassan Rouhani inaugurated 26 energy projects worth over 27.61 trillion rials (about $657.38 million) in four provinces through video conference under the A-B-Iran program.

EF/MA