Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian said on Monday that his country will complete and tap into 111 energy and 116 water projects by the end of the incumbent administration’s term in the 2nd quarter of 2021, adding that projects are sprinkled across the country in 31 provinces.
Ardakanian announced today that by the end of the incumbent administration (May, 2021), some 111 energy projects will be inaugurated, adding that to inaugurate the said projects some 160 trillion rials (about $1.33 billion) is required.
“Some 227 water and electricity projects, at the value of 330 trillion rials (about $2.75 billion) will be inaugurated in 31 of Iranian provinces,” Ardakanian added.
According to the Iranian minister, 10 dams are also to be inaugurated in Tehran, Ilam, Qom, Yazd, Kerman and West Azarbaijan provinces.
On Tuesday, a new report recounted that Iran’s Energy Ministry has operationalized a scheme of swap mechanism allowing private owners of electricity farms across the country to export power through the national grid to all of the neighboring countries of Iran.
The report said that electricity generated in solar and wind farms in any part of Iran can be swapped with the same amount of power from the national grid on the borders for delivery to foreign customers, based on a new decree the Energy Ministry.
Iranian Deputy Energy Minister Seyed Mohammad Sadeqzadeh said that five or six applications had already been submitted to the ministry for export of electricity through the new mechanism.
The official said both foreign and Iranian investors had shown interest in the new scheme which he said would encourage more partnership between owners of the wind and solar farms inside Iran and customers outside of the country.
The new scheme comes as Iran seeks to spur more growth in a renewables sector which is currently responsible for a tiny portion, around one percent, of the total electricity output in the country.
Early in this month, Managing Director of Iran’s state-run Organization for Management of Electric Power Generation and Transmission (Tavanir) Mohammad Hassan Motevalizadeh announced that his country has exported 80% more electricity to foreign states, specially the neighboring states, in the current year, a senior official announced on Sunday.
“This year, the exports of electricity increased 80% compared with the past year (ended on March 20),” Motevalizadeh said.
He added that the neighboring states need Iran’s electricity, noting that the country can turn into an energy hub in the region.
Motevalizadeh also said that Iran has attained full self-sufficiency in production of equipment used in the power industry and produces nearly all equipment needed for power plants.
Iran is currently supplying Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan with electricity.
Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian said in August that his country had exported 2.3 billion kilowatts of electricity to the neighboring countries since the start of the local calendar year on March 21.
Ardakanian said that the exports were made in the wake of proper management of electricity consumption this year, as the country suffered no power outages this summer.
Elsewhere in his remarks, he added that Energy Ministry will inaugurate 227 projects worth 330,000 billion rials including 10 big dams in 9 provinces during the Government Week.
“We have increased power generation as much as 1,800 megawatts each year since the victory of the Islamic Revolution 1997,” he said.
Ardakanian further noted that over the past six years, valuable potable water projects have been commissioned in rural areas, as 10,200 villages joined water supply system.
Back in early February, Ardakanian said that the power generation of the country has increased by 11.4 times since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Ardakanian said that Iran has moved up 24 ranks in terms of generation of electricity in the past forty years.
