To help stabilize power supply in Khuzestan Province, six mega transformers are being installed in Ahvaz and Omidiyeh substations, managing director of the provincial power company said.
"The equipment cost $9 million and will be synchronized with the national grid," Paven, the Energy Ministry's news portal reported Mahmoud Dasht-Bozorg as saying.
Importing the same systems would have cost $20 million, he said.
The 315 mega volt ampere and 765 kilovolt (kV) transformers were indigenized by domestic engineers in Iran Transfo Zanjan Company, a subsidiary of Iran Transfo Industrial Group.
A power transformer is a passive electromagnetic device that transfers energy from one circuit to another by means of inductive coupling. Power transformers differ from other types in that they are designed to comply with regulatory requirements for mains power interfacing, working at mains voltages and relatively high currents.
"The systems have been designed to resist extreme weather conditions and dust storms that have become a norm in the southern regions."
Transformers and substations sometimes break down in Ahvaz due to the temperature which rises to 50 degrees Celsius.
Power outages in Khuzestan have become a near permanent feature in recent years. Last winter, the province was battered by irregular but weeks-long blackouts as some power and water infrastructure were hit by sand and dust storms originating largely from Iraq.
