TEHRAN - Daily electricity consumption in Iran is currently over 65,000 megawatts (65 gigawatts), nearly 11,000 MW more than the country’s current power generation, Iranian Energy Ministry's Spokesman for Electricity Industry Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi has said.

According to Rajabi Mashhadi, the country’s power plants are currently able to generate only 54,000 MW of electricity, IRNA reported on Monday.

Emphasizing the cooperation between the Energy Ministry and the country’s industrial and agriculture sectors for managing the electricity consumption, the official said: “We are now implementing various programs in collaboration with agricultural and industrial subscribers to compensate for the power shortage so that the domestic sector don’t face blackouts.”

He expressed gratitude for the country’s industries, including cement and steel companies, for their maximum cooperation in the ministry’s programs and noted that the ministry will reward such collaborations in the future.

He also mentioned electricity exports, noting that the country’s power exports are nearly zeroed and the Energy Ministry is currently importing about 500 MW of electricity from the neighboring countries.

Rajabi Mashhadi also announced that over 200,000 illegal cryptocurrency mining devices with a total electricity consumption of about 585 MW have been identified and collected across the country.

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.

This year, however, new deteriorating factors like severe drought and the decline in the country’s water resources as well as a new wave of illegal cryptocurrency mining across the country have also worsened the situation.

Iran's Power Generation, Distribution, and Transmission Company (known as Tavanir) has previously announced that the company is implementing over 40 different programs for managing the situation and preventing blackouts in the country.

EF/MA