Iran’s Industry Minister Reports 10,000 Megawatt Power Shortage in Industrial Sector
As electricity consumption in Iran has been on an upward trend in recent years, with both residential and industrial subscribers occasionally forced to endure hours of blackouts around the clock, the Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade says Iran faces a shortage of 10,000 megawatts of electricity in the industrial sector.
According to news agencies in Iran, Reza Fatemi Amin, Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade, said on Thursday that meeting this amount of electricity requires investment by major companies over a four-year period, which he said “has already begun.” He did not specify the amount of this investment or the financial resources required for it.
He also discussed the measures being taken to secure resources needed by the industrial sector, saying that “wastewater from urban facilities” will be used to supply water to industries, and to secure raw materials, “this ministry’s solution is the entry of industrial raw material producing units into the commodity exchange.”
Last year, power rationing in the industrial sector was implemented with the aim of controlling the household blackout crisis and preventing the spread of protests. A measure that, according to industrial activists, caused increased losses to industrial units and reduced production.
In one of the protests by residents of Rey city last summer, demonstrators called for the resignation of officials, including the minister.
With the continuation of blackouts due to power shortages, protests intensified in various cities and were accompanied by slogans such as “Death to the Dictator.”
