TEHRAN – Feasibility studies are underway for generating 17,000 megawatts of hydroelectricity in the country, top advisor to energy minister stated here on Wednesday.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the second national conference on dams and hydropower plants, Abbas Aliabadi added hydroelectricity can account for 30 percent of the country’s needed energy.
Water and energy shortage will be the two major predicaments facing societies, he noted.
He went on to say that Iran is among the semi-arid countries of the world and its annual precipitation is lower the world average, but the country has also mountainous regions apt for establishment of hydropower generation facilities.
“Each year, floods impose great losses to the agricultural yield,” he said adding, by building dams and weirs floods can be controlled while irrigation water during low-rain seasons can be supplied.
For the time being, steam power plants, combined cycle, and diesel-fueled plants account for 39.7 percent, 16.7 percent, and 0.3 percent of the nation’s required electricity, he said