Gas-powered power plants generate over 80% of Iran’s electricity and if there are problems with natural gas supplies to these units there will be power outages.
This issue can and should be addressed with the help of renewables as a viable alternative to sustain electricity supply because green energy does not need gas or other hazardous fuels like diesel and mazut.
Tehran and other cities had power failure for some hours on Feb 16 and the reason was said to be shortage of gas supplies to power plants, IRNA reported.
The steep increase in gas consumption in households in recent days (average 600 million cubic meters per day) has created problems for thermal power plants because their share of natural gas feedstock was cut drastically.
The problem exacerbated by the plunging temperature in several regions and Iran Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company (Tavanir) had to cut power in some warmer regions to be able to maintain electricity supply to remote parts.
“The priority now is stable gas supply to the household sector,” Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi, the Energy Ministry’s spokesman for power affairs said.
Thermal power plants in Iran encounter problems at regular intervals despite the fact that Iran is a gas-rich country and has a unique opportunity to use renewable energy, especially solar.
With over 300 sunny days in a year in more than two-thirds of its total area, the country has a high potential for promoting solar power.
Solar for All Purposes
Solar energy can be used for heating, cooking and lighting without the need for extensive gas transmission networks and high fossil fuel consumption.
An estimated 73 billion cubic meters of gas is used in power plants annually, which is expected to increase to 100 bcm a year in less than five years. This can pose a major challenge to the government and utilities unless use of renewables expands sooner rather than later.
The domestic power industry is founded largely on fossil fuels and the worsening water crisis is an added problem and a major risk for non-renewable power plants.
Hydroelectric, nuclear and natural gas plants need high volumes of water for their cooling systems, which means that drought and heat waves can put electricity generation at greater risk. Wind and photovoltaic systems do not require water to produce power.
Renewables have a small share in Iran's power industry. Less than 1,000 megawatts of the total 82,000 MW installed capacity comes from renewables.
A total of 120 large-scale solar power stations and 3,500 plus smaller installations in urban and rural areas produce green energy.
According to the Sixth Five Year Economic Development Plan (2017-22), renewable energy should comprise at least 5% of the total power output. However, the bitter truth is that this volume now is slightly over 1% indicating that renewable pledges remain stuck in policy declarations and far from reality.
Private companies have invested $1 billion in the gradually expanding renewable sector, mainly solar and wind. Due to government funding constraints, private firms are expected to play a bigger role in promoting clean energy, albeit if the price at which the government buys their electricity is reasonable.
According to Energy Ministry data, green energy data show 44% is from solar, 40% wind power, 13% small hydroelectric plants, 2% geothermal and 1% biomass.
