TEHRAN – Head of Iran’s Power Generation, Distribution, and Transmission Company (known as Tavanir) said the company has defined 40 programs for maintaining electricity supply and preventing power outages during the hot season peak consumption period.

As reported by IRIB, Mohammad-Hassan Motevalizadeh underlined early increase in the temperature and water shortage for hydropower plants as the most important challenges this year, saying: “These issues have forced the early implementation of preventive programs and in this regard, 40 programs have been prepared by Tavanir, and will be implemented across the country.”

Based on the mentioned programs, the responsibilities of various ministries and specialized parent companies have been determined and assigned, the official said.

He noted that the ceiling for incentive packages allocated to each province has also been determined and the governorates of the provinces have been notified in this regard.

“Government organizations and entities are the first priority for implementing consumption management programs, and in this regard monitoring and optimization of air conditioning and lighting systems in such offices should be seriously pursued”, he stressed.

According to the latest data provided by the Energy Ministry, currently, 55 hydroelectric power plants with a total capacity of 12,169 megawatts (MW) are operating across the country and the water shortage will seriously affect their output.

Iran’s current power generation capacity stands at about 85 GW of which the share of hydroelectric power stands at nearly 16 percent.

Water shortage in Iran has become a serious issue in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 20) since the amount of rainfalls in the country have declined significantly in the current water year.

Earlier this week, the Iranian Deputy Energy Minister for Water and Wastewater Affairs Ghasem Taqizadeh Khamesi said that the country will be facing some problems in providing water for various sectors in the current year.

EF/MA