In recent years, clean energy has gradually found its place in the world and many countries – although not definitively – have turned to using this type of energy. In Iran, however, due to the abundance and low cost of fossil fuels, the use of this type of energy was not given much attention even before the revolution, and the utilization of renewable energy sources in those years was estimated at only six megawatts, which was not reflected in the country’s energy statistics and was not taken into account.

رنشینی جهانی رسید

The trend of neglecting the use of these types of energies continued and by 2013, the utilization of clean energy reached global leadership.

Five

Megawatt has arrived; although with the arrival of the government of prudence and hope, efforts were made to increase the use of renewable energies and facilitate their exploitation, and the capacity of renewable energies has reached 341 megawatts.

The increase in currency rates in 97 caused a disruption in the trend of using renewable energy sources, but in an unconventional move, the Renewable Energy and Efficiency Organization increased the tariff for purchasing this type of energy. This led to the private sector facing difficulties in entering this field and continuing its development. Additionally, encouraging and incentivizing people to use more renewable energy and making it more attractive for them has resulted in an increase in the use of this type of energy in the country.

This led to the country’s renewable energy capacity reaching 820 megawatts by the end of the fiscal year 99; a claim that some only attributed to increasing the nominal capacity of some power plants.

But if’s and but’s continued until in the first six months of 2021, Iran suddenly entered a period of silence that many experts attributed to the government’s extraction of cryptocurrencies; a claim that the government of Prudence and Hope never accepted.

But is there the capacity to use clean energy in Iran?

Dr. Mohammad Ali Taghizadeh, who is a professor in the field of electricity and energy, says: “Our country, Iran, is one of the countries that not only is located on the “Solar Belt”, but also has a very high potential for using solar energy.”

Feasibility projects in the country show that other necessary elements for this work also exist in Iran. For example, by installing solar panels, we can make good use of the existence and capacity of deserts in Iran. He continues to say that wind power is another resource in Iran that can contribute to clean energy production. Northern Zabol, Khaf and Dorouh, as well as Manjil in the north, are windy areas in our country, with Zabol being the most valuable in terms of wind energy production, with a predicted capacity of about three thousand megawatts. He describes the winds in Khaf as one of the most unique winds in the world and says that the production of over a thousand megawatts of electricity from these winds has been predicted, and we only need to create these capacities in the country to shift towards clean energy production.

Dr. Taghizadeh continues, “In recent years, as the government has shown a greater interest in building power plants, a 50-megawatt wind power plant has been installed in Satkin and it is predicted that thousands of megawatts of electricity can be generated from this region as well.”

This professor of the field of electricity also announced the government’s intention to install solar panels by providing loans to nomads and ordinary people in cities and villages until 2018. He said: “This was a good process that the government of prudence and hope started and people could also generate their own energy by installing solar panels and finally sell their surplus production to the government and generate income. Unfortunately, this process was stopped in 2018 due to the increase in exchange rates in the country and its fluctuations. However, clean energy production does not only end with these two energies, and I must say that about twenty percent of the energy produced by hydroelectric power plants is produced in the country.” He continues to add that in our country, more than fifteen percent of the electricity consumed in the summer season is provided through this method, which shows the importance and position of hydroelectric power.

He added, “Regarding the features that hydroelectric power plants have compared to other power plants such as thermal, steam, and combined cycle, they are not dependent on fuel and other energy sources due to their low-cost operation. The low-cost operation and high efficiency of eighty to ninety percent, along with the extended lifespan of equipment, are advantages of these types of power plants. Additionally, they can be quickly put into operation and can assist in controlling voltage, frequency, and network power in a short period of time.”

But what happened that in a country that, according to energy experts, has so much potential for electricity production and clean energy, suddenly experienced a blackout?

Keyumars Fathi, an expert in the field of electricity and power, responds to a question about the reason for frequent power outages in Iran and says: “What has caused nationwide power outages in the past six months must be investigated in terms of increased load on the power distribution system.” He also adds: “Lack of rainfall in the past year and a decrease in water reserves in dams such as Karkeh and Darian, as well as some other dams in the country, have been a significant factor in the uneven distribution of energy reserves and consumption.”

Fathi, however, continues: “The reality is that in the past ten years, Iran should have invested three and a half billion dollars annually for the development of this sector, but due to sanctions and budget deficits in the energy sector, it has not been able to achieve its investment goals.”

“When there is not enough water in dams that are specifically built for producing electricity and their capacity is only enough to supply drinking and agricultural needs, you cannot expect energy production. This is evident in the Karkeh Dam, where the decrease in water levels has resulted in being unable to produce energy for the past few days, which could be one of the reasons for energy shortage and distribution to consumption.”

Fathi continues, “In my opinion, what happened in the first six months of 1400 as repeated power outages in the country was the issue of Bitcoin mining using the electricity network. In the past month of Farvardin, the electricity network of Iran faced an increase of nine thousand megawatts compared to the previous year. If we look at it from the perspective of network consumption in Iran, considering the timing and season of the increase, we can almost certainly attribute it to cryptocurrency mining. This is because neither household nor agricultural and industrial consumption at this time of the year can suddenly add such a volume of excess load to the distribution network. This is while in the discussion of industrial consumption, I must also mention that due to the sanctions faced by most industries in Iran and the decrease in their production capacity, it cannot be definitively stated that the excess load has been imposed on the network by industry. Therefore, the only plausible option is Bitcoin mining, as the cost of this activity

He says that in Iran, the main source of electricity production is from fossil fuels, with a total capacity of 70,228,821 megawatts, which is injected into the national grid from ninety power plants across the country. Additionally, around 6,500 megawatts of hydroelectric power is also generated, and the declared capacity of the nuclear power plant in Bushehr is less than 1,000 megawatts, which is very low compared to neighboring countries. However, in President Rouhani’s second term, one of the announced plans was to develop the use of solar power, with a budget of approximately 200 million euros allocated for each province. These funds were practically paralyzed due to the impact of sanctions imposed by Trump on Iran, and only a few limited areas, such as Neka and Manjil, were able to utilize wind power capacities.

He refers to the proposed solutions for the issue of power outages only in the collection of numerous Bitcoin farms in Iran and continues: “The real and long-term solution to combat this is to increase production capacity and launch more power plants using renewable fuels and clean energy.”

Fathi says that for the construction of a 1000 megawatt power plant, regardless of feasibility, studies and funding, the minimum time required is four years for the necessary substations to be established and energy to be transferred to the grid; therefore, the only solution is to collect bitcoin mining farms.

Of course, let’s not forget that the government in Iran, despite various ways of circumventing sanctions and abundant financial resources available for this purpose, is not particularly interested in this matter; although the issue is not only the power outages in Iran, and this challenge has greatly reduced production capacities and, in some cases, these outages can have a profound impact on the social life of a citizen and lead to a decline in the quality of life for people, or as we have seen on some social networks, at the cost of human lives.