Iran’s Energy Ministry Warns of Major Summer Power Outages

 May 16, 2018

The severely dry weather in Iran has caused the water level to drop by 50 percent in major rivers in the country. As a consequence, many dams are generating much less power than usual. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Energy has warned that the electricity grid in major urban areas and towns may experience frequent failures this summer. The authorities have, therefore, urged the public to conserve energy in the hopes of avoiding power outages.

The significant rain shortfall has caused many thermal power plants to produce only 44,000 megawatts of electricity this year, a sharp drop from the usual 63,000 megawatts, Tasnim News agency reported. The water shortage has also caused many dams to produce as little as 5,000 megawatts of electricity.

Officials at the Ministry of Energy estimate that consumers in major cities use 58,000 megawatts of electricity during the peak period, which exceeds the current production level of 51,800 megawatts. They anticipate that many areas around the country will experience power outages this summer.

Arash Kurdi, the director of the Electric Power Industry Statistics of Iran’s Power Generation And Transmission Company (TAVANIR), has described the electric power industry as “extremely promising,” but has said that data on usage is somewhat disappointing. “We are dealing with a difficult situation. Given the current water shortage, we must manage the electricity usage better; otherwise we’ll face a crisis,” Mr. Kurdi said. “We urge the public to conserve electricity so, they won’t experience too many power outages.” 

Iran’s Deputy Energy Minister, Homayoun Haeri, has said that this year’s electricity usage should not exceed the previous year’s.

In July 2017, the country’s electricity usage was at a record high of 55,364 megawatts which showed a 10 percent increase from the same period in the previous year. The authorities fear that a hot and dry summer will further exasperate the problem of electricity shortage, leading to frequent power outages in the coming months.