Mohammad Ali Pouramiri, a member of Iran Renewable Energy Association, said on Tuesday that Iran has developmental plans for its power plants but the country may lose 50% of its power plant capacity due to the shortage of water for steam cycle sector.
Pouramiri said that 86 percent of the world's new power plant development plans in 2020 were renewable ones, with less than 20 percent of which being fossil and nuclear.
Referring to Iran’s huge gas resources, he said that “we wasted so much gas that we are now facing shortage of gas.”
He said that it is a historical record for a major energy producer to face shortage of gas.
“We have devalued gas and now we have a shortage in the energy industry. We have devalued the industry that is our competitive advantage in the world to such an extent that not only can we not export but we ourselves have a shortage and the basis of this problem is consumption and pricing.”
“We have a shortage of gas, and even if we don’t, we will lose the market of a very valuable commodity that has the potential for export, due to domestic consumption,” Pouramiri said.
Iraq, for instance is now importing electricity from Jordan and Saudi Arabia and has also signed a deal with Total, he said, adding that the country is hopeful to remove its electricity problem within the next six months and Iran is losing its competitive advantage in Iraq.
Referring to Iran’s plans to produce 25,000 MW of renewable energy by 2041 and construction of 5,000 MW of coal-fueled power plants and 3,000 MW of nuclear energy, he said that even if all these goals are met Iran will be still a gas importer in 2041.