TEHRAN - Head of Iran Grid Management Company (IGMC) Mostafa Rajabi-Mashhadi has said Energy Ministry is implementing a comprehensive program for ensuring sustained electricity supply during the summer season’s pick consumption period, IRNA reported.

Speaking to the national TV on Monday, Rajabi-Mashhadi said: “According to the forecasts, there is a possibility of early temperature rise as of Ordibehesht (the second Iranian calendar month which begins on April 21), which means a longer peak consumption period and indicates that the electricity industry should be ready to manage this period.”

Regarding the state of the country’s water reserves, the official said: "Currently, about 50 percent of the capacity of the country’s dam reservoirs are full, but we cannot say for sure that the situation is better than last year."

He also mentioned the annual overhaul program of the power plants across Iran, saying: “Currently, 60 percent of the power plants' annual overhaul program has been completed.”

In 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.

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

Back in October 2021, the Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Energy Ministry for constructing 10,000 megawatts (MW) capacity of power plants across the country.

The MOU was signed by Industry Minister Reza Fatemi-Amin and Energy Minister Ali-Akbar Mehrabian.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mehrabian noted that these power plants will be built to meet the needs of industrial sectors and according to the signed MOU, industries will meet their electricity needs through them and the surplus power will be injected into the national grid.

The minister stated that the country is currently facing 14,000 MW of electricity shortage, adding: “This figure equals 22 percent of the country's total electricity demand, which we cannot provide in various sectors including domestic, industrial, administration, and agricultural areas.”

Pointing out that the construction of these power plants will be operational in the near future, Mehrabian said: "Our industries haven’t been able to fully implement their development plans due to lack of electricity. We hope to see good cooperation between the two ministries and thus create prosperity in near future."

He said that one of the plans of the Energy Ministry is to increase the capacity of the country’s power plants in proportion to the demand.

“We plan to construct 35,000 MW of power plants in various fields, of which 15,000 MW will be combined cycle and steam power plants established by the Energy Ministry and the private sector, while the other 10,000 MW will be renewable power plants,” the official added.

EF/MA