Power Industry Needs Funding

The electricity industry in facing challenges including severe shortage of funds, lack of investment to build new facilities, worn-out equipment such as transformers and annual increase in power consumption, the Energy Ministry’s spokesman for the power department said Tuesday.
Speaking at the 6th International Transformer Conference and Exhibition, December 10-11 in Tehran, Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi said: “If the current trend persists we may be forced to import electricity in 15 years,” ISNA quoted him as saying.
But this can be avoided by investing in renewable power and with concerted efforts to reduce power consumption, he added.
In Iran, thermal power plants comprise 80% of the total power capacity of 83 GW and renewables comprise a poor 1%.