Reza Ardakanian, Energy Minister for Iran, has announced that 10 new major dams will be inaugurated in nine provinces across the country by March 2020. He added that when these dams started operation, they would also supply 26,000 hectares of land with water for irrigation.
Iran’s Energy Ministry has said that 17 hydropower plants are currently under construction, with a total capacity of 3800MW. Once all have been completed, the Energy Ministry says that the plants will generate 7700GWh annually.
Iran’s current power generation capacity stands at about 85GW, of which hydropower generates nearly 20 per cent. There are currently 54 hydropower plants with a total capacity of over 12,000MW operating in Iran.