Developing solar energy is a serious solution to reduce imbalances

According to Energy Press, Omid Shakeri stated today (Tuesday, December 1) at a joint specialized meeting of the Ministry of Oil and Energy on the development of solar power plants: Since last year, the issue of constructing solar power plants has been raised by government departments and the public sector, and this issue has been put on the agenda with the special emphasis of the President and the follow-up of the Ministry of Oil.
Referring to the special emphasis of the President on the development of clean energies, he added: Now we hope that new horizons will be created for the expansion of solar power plants in different sectors of the oil industry, especially since the move towards clean energies is being pursued seriously at the global level today.
Excessive gas-based development; the root of today’s imbalance
Deputy Minister of Oil for Engineering, Research and Technology, explaining the past trend of policy-making in the field of energy, said: In the last decade, the development of all sectors, from domestic and industrial to power plants, has relied entirely on gas, as if the country’s gas resources were endless. The result of this approach has been the current imbalance and a historical neglect in diversifying the energy carrier portfolio.
Shakeri, stating that gas consumption by thermal power plants has increased from 63 billion cubic meters in 2012 to more than 94 billion cubic meters in recent years, said: This amount is equivalent to the four-phase gas of South Pars. Despite this heavy consumption, the share of renewable energy is still insignificant.
He clarified: Although Iran is the world’s third largest gas producer, consumption growth has outpaced the increase in production.
Warning about the intensification of imbalance and heavy future costs
Referring to the pressure drop in the South Pars field in the coming years, the Deputy Minister of Oil for Engineering, Research and Technology emphasized: As the Minister of Oil has stated, the implementation of the South Pars pressure boosting project is “more imperative than dinner” because this field supplies about 70 percent of the country’s gas.
Shakeri added: If supply and demand management are not carried out simultaneously, the imbalance gap will increase every year; As at peak consumption, this imbalance reaches more than 300 million cubic meters per day.
He emphasized: If this trend is not corrected, a large part of the government’s revenues that should be spent on development and people’s livelihoods will inevitably be allocated to importing energy carriers; as a result, the industrial and business sectors will also face serious restrictions.
The importance of optimization and poor efficiency of power plants
The Deputy Minister of Oil, criticizing the lack of policy coherence in the energy sector over the past three decades, said: Energy is a major issue and its policymaking must be carried out in an integrated manner. It is not possible to solve only the problem of electricity imbalance or only gas imbalance; these sectors are like gears that must move simultaneously and in harmony.