Iran Power Industry Needs $1.2b of Forex Annually
IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK
TEHRAN – Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian says Iran’s power industry needs some $1.2b of forex annually that some of the amount is offset through export of electricity to the neighboring states.
Speaking in the open session of Majlis yesterday, Ardakanian said Iraq is the most important neighboring country of Iran where Iran’s electricity is exported to and it provides some part of forex needed by Iran’s power industry.
He added that the total debts of the ministry is 45,000b tomans while the company demands the same amount of money from the government, hence Majlis should find proper solution for this problem.
On the output of thermal power stations of the country, he said studies show that the output of Iran’s thermal power stations are a little better than the average universal rate of 37.3 percent.
He further said, “Today, Iran is ranked fourth in power plant capacity, and I promise that by the end of the twelfth government we will have reached a capacity of 830 MW in the field of renewable energy.”
Ardakanian also referred to the situation of water, electricity and gas consumption in the country, saying: “Although the population of our country has increased by about two-thirds over the last four decades, thanks to the efforts of the authorities, the access of citizens to electricity are higher than the global average, and in the past four decades, however, despite the country’s population being only 36 million, many people did not have access to electricity.”
“Iran’s access to electricity is about 100 percent, while this figure is estimated 96 percent for other countries. Since Iranian calendar year 1392, about 16,000 MW has been added to the country’s electricity capacity, and we hope that this figure will reach 20,000 MW and more by the end of the 12th government,” Ardakanian noted.
He also admitted that the country is expecting one of the warmest summers in front of itself in terms of electricity supply and urged people to manage their consumptions.
Ardakanian reiterated that in the past 17 years, the country has continued electricity supply without major outage or collapse while in the world, the average rate for the collapse of electricity network is 10 years and even in the developed countries, electricity network is collapsed every 15 or 16 years.
He expressed hope that this summer and with cooperation of people in efficient consumption, there would be no major outage in the country.
