Mousa Ahmadi said optimizing and managing energy consumption to address supply-demand imbalances is a top priority. He noted that Article 46 of the Seventh Five-Year Development Plan addresses energy optimization and consumption management by emphasizing the development of renewable power plants, diversification of the national fuel mix, public participation, improved energy efficiency and the expansion of energy efficiency markets.

Ahmadi said improving consumption efficiency requires moving toward a more diverse energy mix, including electricity and renewable sources such as wind and solar power—approaches widely adopted worldwide to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and mitigate environmental problems.

Facilitating the use of renewable energy

The Energy Committee chief said Iran has significant capacity in various energy sources and should facilitate their use by providing infrastructure and equipment and supporting investment in new energy. He said moving in this direction would help resolve energy imbalances.

Ahmadi also stressed the need to increase power plant efficiency through new technologies, noting that building new power plants is time-consuming and costly, while renewable power plants can be developed at lower cost and with cleaner energy.

He said the government has taken positive steps to expand combined-cycle power plants, adding that the Energy Committee supports a strategy that goes beyond thermal power plants to include combined-cycle and renewable facilities.