IRAN POWER OUTAGES: GOVERNMENT OFFICES TO CLOSE DOWN FOR 2 WEEKS

Wed 07 July 2021:

Iran’s government agencies will close starting Thursday for two weeks due to ongoing power cuts across the country, Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian announced Wednesday.

“To solve the problem with power outages, all government departments will be closed from tomorrow for two weeks,” Ardakanian was quoted as saying by the Tasnim news agency.

Iranian media reported previously disruptions at two power plants with the capacity of 1,000 megawatts each. The power outages have affected government offices, residential and industrial facilities across the country. Traffic lights turned off, leading to long traffic jams and numerous car accidents.

The authorities said it was impossible to increase the supply of electricity, as all stations have been operating at full capacity.

On June 29, the country’s Electricity Minister Majed Mahdi Hantoosh stepped down amid rising pressure to do something about repeated blackouts, which have been blamed on a surge in demand due to rising summer temperatures, droughts affecting hydro-power plants and even cryptocurrency mining.

The shutdown of Iran’s only nuclear plant in Bushehr, allegedly due to a technical failure, has exacerbated the crisis. The plant went back online on Monday after a two-week pause.

Illegal cryptocurrency mining are playing havoc with Iran’s power grid

Last month Iran’s power minister, Reza Ardakanian, said a one million increase in the number of new users since last year — due to in increase in manufacturing facilities as well as cryptocurrency mining — had sent daily consumption soaring compared to last year, with only 16% of the added volume attributable to licensed, legal miners, the Iranian Labour News Agency reported on Tuesday.

The government’s been cracking down on illegal cryptocurrency miners in an effort to relieve pressure on the power grid. Mohammadhassan Motevallizadeh, the chief executive of Tavanir, has said staffers have even been shot at while trying to access suspected illegal mining facilities, the semi-official KhabarOnline quoted him as saying.

Protests erupt in Iran over power outages

Protests broke out in several cities in Iran this week over repeated power outages, videos posted on social media showed, with some protests turning political with chants against the country’s highest authority, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Iranian state media, which rarely covers news of protests, reported on Monday on protests in several cities in northern Iran.

“Protesters said the frequent power outages had caused many problems, including water cuts in apartments, spoilage of meat and poultry and other items in refrigerators, and damage to household appliances,” the semi-official ISNA news agency reported from the northeastern town of Kordkuy.

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