Iran’s Thermal Power Plant Holding Managing Director Mohsen Tarztalab has said the country could see tough ties in winter, according to local reports.
He was quoted by the reports as saying that the Energy Ministry could face serious problems in meeting electricity demand in winter if power plants did not get fuel.
“Insufficient gas and liquid fuel supply for power plants in winter and the consumption of fuel oil and its consequent pollutants have caused serious concerns for the power generation sector,” he said.
Tarztalab pointed to similar problems the country faced last year due to insufficient fuel supply during winter.
He was quoted by the local reports as saying: “Currently, our main concern is about the supply of fuel to the country’s thermal power plants in the winter.”
He added: “We have faced serious problems last year due to the lack of gas and liquid fuel required by the power plants, and there is a concern that we will not be able to fully meet the country’s electricity needs this winter either.”
Tarztalab went on to explain: “This summer, due to the restrictions, we were forced to cut off electricity to industries and domestic and commercial subscribers and if this trend continues in the winter, it will cause serious problems for the electricity sector; in this regard, we are trying to overcome this problem by managing the issue of fuel supply to power plants.”
He also noted that natural gas consumption by the domestic sector increases significantly in winter and the Oil Ministry will not be able to reduce its supply to this sector.
Thus, he said, the only way to solve the problem was to supply enough liquid fuel for the power plants in order to prevent power outages.