ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iran’s energy ministry called on people to reduce electricity consumption following a widespread blackout in the country on Sunday, which the ministry blamed on excessive energy usage, saying that demand has increased by at least 12 percent this year.
“Yesterday, the electricity demand reached 65,900 MW, which has never been seen before in the industry, but given the heatwave coming ahead, it is likely that the amount could even exceed 66,000 MW,” the spokesperson to the ministry Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi said on Monday, adding that demand last year was around 58,000 MW.
According to the statement from the ministry, Iran’s production ability is capped at 55,000 MW currently.
The spokesperson said that a shortage of more than 10,000 MW can be compensated for by conservation and load management, adding that the construction of power plants will take time and will cost a lot, calling on people to reduce consumption.
“We are witnessing a gap of 11,000 MW, we must fill this gap through strategies and programs of shifting loads of major industries and subscribers,” Mashhadi said. “If that does not work, we will have to shut down.”
Iran suffered from electricity outages on Sunday night, and according to Mashhadi, the reason behind those outages was due to an automatic process in which the electricity goes off whenever there is excessive use.
The ministry on Sunday warned of possible blackouts between the fifth and eighth of this month, calling on people to reduce consumption, especially between 12 pm to 6 pm to prevent power outages.
The blackouts come even after Iran’s sole nuclear power plant went back online on Saturday.
Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization announced in June that Iran had temporarily shut down the Bushehr power plant due to a technical fault. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2019, Bushehr plant unit one provided 1.89 percent of the country’s electricity.
Iran’s latest blackouts come following several attempts from the government to reduce the load on the country’s electricity infrastructure, including the banning of bitcoin mining.
In late May, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani banned bitcoin mining after officials blamed the energy-consuming process for daily power outages in the country.
The latest wave of blackouts has upset both people and politicians of the country.
Videos circulating on social media showed people chanting against the government and the supreme leader of Iran during the Sunday blackout saying, “Death to the dictator, death to Khamenei.”
The Iranian speaker of parliament also expressed concern over the power outages.
“Frequent power outages across the country and disruption of people's lives and businesses require planning and management,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf tweeted on Monday morning. “People are upset with this lack of planning.”
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