Power plants with a total capacity of 2,900 megawatts are under construction by the mining industry, which will become operational by the end of the next Iranian year (March 2024), a deputy managing director of Iran Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company (Tavanir) said.
“The projects are the result of a memorandum of understanding signed last year between the Energy Ministry and the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade for the construction of power plants by industries to provide reliable and stable electricity to mining and other industries,” the Energy Ministry’s news portal Paven also quoted Seyyed Zaman Hosseini as saying.
According to the memorandum of understanding, 10,000 MW of power stations were initially planned by industries. However, the figure later increased to 17,000 MW, which will be constructed in 15 provinces.
“The permits have been issued for the construction of combined cycle power plants with a capacity of 17,000 MW at 30 construction sites across the country,” he said.
“Of this capacity, about 6,000 MW are under construction in seven factories in Isfahan, Kerman, Khuzestan and Semnan.”
The official said the first power plant constructed with the investment of industries was connected to the national power grid in the summer. The project included the first gas unit of Shahid Bakeri Power Plant in Semnan Province with a capacity of 183 MW.
“Moreover, 1,500 MW will be added to the power generation capacity until next summer,” Hosseini added.
Industries can play a key role in boosting electricity output by embarking on power plant development projects, in which case they will no longer be at the mercy of the state-run Tavanir. This way, they will be enabled to use their own power generating plants and not be dependent on the national power grid.
In fact, industries account for 40% of Iran’s annual power consumption of 280 billion kilowatt hours.
Mining and manufacturing industries were negatively affected by the power supply crisis last summer, as they were forced to halt operations repeatedly in June and July because the state-run utility company could not produce sufficient electricity.
When heavy industrial customers are equipped with their own power stations, they will not need to stop their operations in the summer when demand exceeds supply.
If industries complete their power projects, the Energy Ministry guarantees that adequate power will be supplied to factories even during peak demand hours, regardless of household consumption level.
All industrial units that consume more than 2 megawatts of electricity per month are charged 2.5 cents per kilowatt hour.
As per the new bill passed by the Majlis last year, electricity tariffs for energy-intensive industries, namely cement factories, oil refineries and petrochemical and steel companies, have increased fivefold since March.
