Does the crisis of electricity shortage continue in winter?

According to Energy Press, blackouts have been extended to winter for several years. Of course, the story is a little different from the summer blackouts, because this time the reason for the blackouts is not the small capacity of the power plants and the imbalance in the production and consumption of electricity. The root of blackouts in winter is gas imbalance.
The story of electricity imbalance is not the story of this year and last year, and at least it is the result of the lack of efficient management over the past decade. It is interesting to know that since 2013, the distance between the electricity demand during the peak time and the power supplied by the network has increased continuously; The gap that has now reached more than 18,000 megawatts and is equivalent to the production capacity of 16 Bushehr nuclear power plants.
There are several reasons for the problem of power imbalance. Some consider the problem in the lack of investment in production, and others point to the high losses of electricity in the transmission and distribution network and the command economy in this area. Meanwhile, the number of people who consider the high per capita energy consumption in Iran as one of the main challenges in this field is not small. It believes that reforming price policies can greatly improve the problems in this sector.
Hamidreza Salehi, an expert in the field of energy, tells the market: Unfortunately, despite the severe imbalance we have in gas, renewable energy sources are still on the sidelines, even though they could be the pillar of stability and security of the country’s energy.
He stated that only 0.1% of the total energy input to the electricity system is provided by renewable sources; He continued: In other words, it can be said that in practice we did not use any of our wind, solar and other new energy capacities. These neglects and non-use of renewable energy capacity aggravate the country’s future energy crisis. Now, if we really want to solve the problem of dissatisfaction, we should start investing in these areas as soon as possible and in the form of priority and urgent projects.
Pointing out that thermal power plants that depend on fossil resources such as natural gas and fuel oil still have the largest share in electricity production, he continued: In contrast, renewable and nuclear power plants are significantly marginalized. In addition, a significant part of the produced electricity is also used for the internal use of power plants and related production units, which shows the inefficiency in the energy management system.
Salehi emphasized the importance of diversifying the country’s energy production portfolio and said: Currently, more than 90% of the country’s electricity is supplied from gas and oil products. This strong dependence on gas, which itself faces frequent conflicts, indicates a serious need for the development of renewable energies such as solar and wind. But past experiences have shown that the development of these power plants also faces obstacles such as lack of proper infrastructure, lack of support markets and inefficient policies.
Losses in the transmission and distribution network reached 20%
Of course, today’s disharmony in the country is not only the result of stopping or reducing investment in the production sector. Unfortunately, during the past years, electricity distribution and transmission networks have been neglected. As some activists of this industry say, the losses of the electricity network are increasing every day. Some statistics indicate that the losses of the transmission and distribution network have reached 20% in the summer season.