Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) has announced that eight mining industry companies across the country are currently constructing power plants with a total capacity of 4,380 megawatts (MW) to meet their electricity needs.
According to IMIDRO, the Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Energy Ministry to build 31 power plants across the country of which eight are currently under construction.
As reported, Mobarakeh Steel Company, Golgohar Mining and Industrial Company, Al-Mahdi Aluminum, Khuzestan Steel Company, Mines and Metals Development Investment Company, South Aluminum Company, and West Asia Steel Company are the firms that have started the construction of the mentioned power plants.
In July 2021, the Iranian energy and Industry, Mining, and Trade ministries signed the MOU to cooperate in the construction of new power plants with 10,500 MW capacity across the country.
Following the Energy Ministry’s call for interested industrial companies, many companies welcomed the idea and registered in the program so the primary 10,000 MW capacity was increased to 16,000 MW. Later in November of that year, Energy Minister Ali-Akbar Mehrabian announced that the construction of 10,000 MW capacity power plants was started by various industrial sectors, saying: “Four major industries have started their work in the field of power plant construction. Based on the contract concluded with these industries, the said industries will not be provided with electricity from the national grid if they cannot deliver the power plants based on the specified schedule.”
The first power plant unit constructed by the Iranian industrial went operational in Semnan Province in early August 2022.
Over the past decade, constant temperature rising and the significant decrease in rainfalls across Iran have put the country in a hard situation regarding electricity supply during peak consumption periods.
In this regard, the Energy Ministry has been following new programs to meet the country’s power demand during peak periods and to prevent outages. Constructing new units in the country’s power plants and also building new power plants for major industries are among the mentioned programs that are being pursued seriously by the ministry in collaboration with other related government entities.
