TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran is facing a summer of power cuts after a severe drought slashed output from its hydroelectric power plants, the energy minister warned, according to press reports on Thursday. "The electricity shortage and the cuts will multiply before the start of summer," Energy Minister Parviz Fattah was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency.| Gonna get worse when electrical pylons mysteriously fall, and generators mysteriously fail, and power stations mysteriously go off-line ... |
A spring of only sporadic rain has left Iran with a severe drought as it enters summer, which is normally hot and dry all over the country except in the humid northern provinces.
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Iran had to cope with major power cuts during the 1980-1988 war with Iraq but since the 1990s the authorities have invested in major projects, such as hydroelectric dams, to match the consumption of its over 70 million population.
The electricity cuts recall major gas cuts suffered by northern Iranian towns during the bitterly cold winter this year, as a halt of gas exports to Turkey failed to make up for the domestic shortfall.