TEHRAN – Iran’s hydroelectric power plants are completely ready to supply electricity during the summer peak consumption period, an official with Iran Water & Power Resources Development Company (IWPCO) said.

Jaber Mousavi put the current capacity of the hydroelectric power plants operated by IWPCO at 3,465 megawatts (MW), noting that the mentioned power plants are going to be operational at full capacity during the summer, IRIB reported.

Earlier this month, IWPCO announced that the country’s hydroelectric power plants produced more than 250,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20).

“Hydropower plants were fully prepared to produce clean and renewable energy during Nowruz (Iran’s New Year holidays),” IWPCO Deputy Head Vahid Izadi said.

Hydropower, also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to generate electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kinetic energy of a water source to produce power.

hydroelectric is a method of sustainable energy production. Hydropower is now used principally for hydroelectric power generation and is also applied as one-half of an energy storage system known as pumped-storage hydroelectricity.

Hydropower is an attractive alternative to fossil fuels as it does not directly produce carbon dioxide or other atmospheric pollutants and it provides a relatively consistent source of power. Nonetheless, it has economic, sociological, and environmental downsides and requires a sufficiently energetic source of water, such as a river or elevated lake.

International institutions such as the World Bank view hydropower as a low-carbon means of economic development.

According to the latest data provided by Iran’s Energy Ministry, currently, 55 hydroelectric power plants with a total capacity of 12,169 MW are operating across the country.

The mentioned power plants every year generate 27,696 GWh of electricity on average.

Based on the provided data, 16 of the mentioned 55 power plants are located in the Caspian Sea basin, while 25 are located adjacent to the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea, one is near Urmia Lake, and finally, 13 are located in central Iran.

Currently, 17 new hydroelectric power plants with a total capacity of 3,517 MW are also being constructed across the country, according to the Energy Ministry.

EF/