Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 17
By Rahim Zamanov - Trend:
Iran's Deputy Energy Minister Housang Falahatian said on Feb. 17 that the country would be able to save $7 billion annually by reducing electricity consumption by ten percent, Iran's IRNA News Agency reported.
"Iran produced 46,400 megawatt hours of electricity last summer," he said, adding that the figure is expected to reach 200 billion kilowatt hours next summer.
"For generating the mentioned amount of electricity, some 67-70 billion liters of fuel is needed, which will make a total of $70 billion," he explained.
Deputy Energy Minister Houshang Falahatian said on Feb. 10 that the production capacity of Iran's power plants does not meet domestic demands, Iran's ISNA News Agency reported.
"The country's electricity generation capacity currently stands at 70,000 megawatt hours, but it's not enough," he said.
"Electricity consumption peak is currently around 46,300 megawatt hours, but if the current trend continues the figure would reach 50,000 megawatt hours," Falahatian explained.
He made the remarks at the inauguration ceremony of the country's first small-scale power plant in the Western province of Zanjan.
Managing Director of West Region Power Company Abdolaziz Karimi said on Jan. 25 that Iran's electricity consumption will reach 51,000 megawatt hours in the next Iranian calendar year (to startMarch 21), Iran's IRNA News Agency reported on Jan. 26.
"The figure is expected to reach 54,500 megawatt hours in the Iranian calendar year of 1394 (to start onMarch 21, 2015)," he said.
Karimi went on to note that Iran's electricity consumption currently stands at 46,000 megawatt hours.
"It is while the figure was around 43,000 megawatt hours in the previous year," Karimi said, adding that the rising consumption trend in the country is alarming.
Iran currently trades power with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan,Syria, and Iraq.
Iran seeks to become a major regional exporter of electricity and has attracted more than $1.1 billion in investments for the construction of three new power plants.
Edited by C.N.