TEHRAN - Iranian Energy Ministry's Spokesman for Electricity Industry Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi has said the country’s major industries are currently constructing new power plants with a total capacity of 5,600 megawatts (MW) across the country, IRNA reported.

Back in 2021, the Iranian Energy Ministry announced a program based on which the country’s major industries would construct 10,000 MW of new power plants across the country to meet their own electricity demand during peak consumption periods.

According to Rajabi Mashhadi, currently, more industries have expressed readiness for constructing new power plants and the total capacity that was supposed to be built has been increased to 14,000 MW from the previously agreed 10,000 MW.

The official noted that based on the agreement signed between the industry and energy ministries, those industrial units whose electricity is supplied by their own power plants are not subject to the Energy Ministry’s summer peak period consumption management programs.

In July 2021, the Iranian Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Energy Ministry for constructing power plants for big industries.

Later in November of that year, Energy Minister Ali-Akbar Mehrabian announced that the construction of 10,000 MW capacity power plants was 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.”

The first power plant unit constructed by the industrial sector went operational in Semnan Province in late August 2022.

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.

EF/MA