Plans are in place to reduce electricity consumption by 5,300 megawatts during peak hours between June 5 and Sept. 15, an official in charge of Consumption Department in Iran Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company (Tavanir) said.
Alireza Ahmadi-Yazdi also told IRNA that Tavanir has assigned 16 provincial electricity companies as well as 39 electricity distribution firms to meet the target.
Giving a breakdown, he noted that 1,800 MW should be reduced with the help of provincial electricity companies. Moreover, distribution firms have been commissioned to reduce as much as 3,500 MW during the period.
According to the official, the ministry reduced the national grid's demand by 4,000 MW in 2017with the help of household, agriculture, industrial and business sectors.
Referring to the Vacation/ Maintenance Scheme, Ahmadi-Yazdi added that in this plan, major industrial units lessen their power consumption as much as they can by arranging short-term holidays for their staff and overhauling their units in the hot summer days when demand exceeds output.
"Implementation of the plan assisted the ministry to add 725 MW of electricity to the grid in 2017," he said.
"Industrial units can also sign a contract with Tavanir to announce by how many megawatts they can reduce their consumption during peak demand hours. In case of an emergency, Tavanir will ask subscribers to minimize consumption."
The official noted that the plan helped Tavanir to add 1,300 MW to the national network last year.
Moreover, emergency standby diesel generators can also help manage the peak demand hours, especially in the current fiscal year where low precipitation will lower power generation capacity in hydroelectric plants.
Reportedly, such generators, which can be used in hospitals and water plant, are widely employed in developed states like the US and the UK to support the national grids at times for a variety of reasons.
The official emphasized that people active in the agriculture sector can play a key role to cut down power usage in summer if they turn off their electric motors for 4 hours during peak demand hours, because of which they will be offered 20 hours of free electricity per day.
