TEHRAN – Iranian Energy Minister Ali-Akbar Mehrabian has said the country’s electricity generation capacity is going to increase by 6,000 megawatts (MW) by the end of spring (June 22) in order to meet the summer’s peak demand, IRNA reported.

Speaking to the press at the end of a meeting with the members of the parliament’s Energy Committee, Mehrabian noted that 4,500 MW of the mentioned figure will be provided through developing the country’s thermal power plants and another 1,000 MW will also be provided by implementing overhaul operations, while the other 500 MW is going to be supplied by new renewable power plants.

The official further outlined some of his ministry’s programs in the electricity sector for the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 21), saying: “We have important programs in various fields including power plant development as well as demand management and energy saving.”

Regarding the ministry’s plans to supply electricity during the summer peak consumption period, he said: "We hope this summer will be spent with minimal issues and interruptions in electricity supply.”

Back in November 2021, Mehrabian had said that his ministry was planning to construct and put into operation 21 new power plant units by the current year’s summer.

According to Mehrabian, his ministry is following a comprehensive program for adding 30,000 MW to the country’s power generation capacity by the end of the current government incumbency.

He also noted that the construction of 10,000 MW capacity power plants had also been started by various industrial sectors, saying: “four major industries have started their work in the field of power plant construction. Based on the contract concluded with these industries, the said industries will not be provided with electricity from the national grid if they cannot deliver the power plants based on the specified schedule.”

Over the past decade, constant temperature rising and the significant decrease in rainfalls across Iran have put the country in a hard situation regarding electricity supply during peak consumption periods.

In this regard, the Energy Ministry has been following new programs to meet the country’s power demand during peak periods and to prevent outages.

Constructing new units in the country’s power plants and also building new power plants for major industries are among the mentioned programs that are being pursued seriously by the ministry in collaboration with other related government entities.

EF/