Electricity in Iran

Date01 June 1961
Published date01 June 1961
DOI10.1177/002085236102700207
AuthorManucher Goodarzi
Subject MatterArticles
Electricity
in
Iran
(*)
by
Manucher
GOODARZI
UDC
35.078.4.047 :
(351.824.11 :
621.3)
(55)
To
any
industrialized
society
and
highly
developed
economy,
electrical
power
has
been
a
significant
contributing
factor,.
Equal-
ly,
it
plays
an
important
role
in
the
advance-
ment
of
the
economy
of
the
underdeveloped
areas.
Power
is
not
only
a
stimulus
to
industrial
growth,
it
is
also
important
from
the
point
.of
view
of
public
welfare.
It
serves as
an
index
to
the
level
of
the
standard
of
living.
However,
proper
development
and
admin-
istration
of
electrical
power
facilities
is,
in
my
opinion,
a
very
complicated
and
delicate
task
which
requires
profound
planning
and
a
high
degree
of
technical
and
managerial
sophistication.
Planners
are
never
privileged
with
inex-
haustible
human,
financial
and
technical
re-
sources.
Limitation
of
these
resources
con-
fronts
planners
with
difficult
situations
in
which
sometimes
a
choice
should
be
made
between
more
or
less
equally
important
ob-
jectives.
So
far,
Iran
has
been
confronted
with
such
a
choice
and
has
had
to
decide
whether
to
direct
its
efforts
toward
development
of
power
for
industrial
growth
or
use
its
re-
.sources
for
improvement
of
public
welfare.
True, .
no
policy
necessarily
has
to
point
towards
the
achievement
of
one
objectives
to
the
complete
neglect
of
the
others,
but
it
is
the
rate
of
emphasis
that
would
be
in
ques-
tion.
As
recently
as
a
decade
ago,
the
primary
objective
of
providing
electricity
was,
in
Iran,
to
meet
non-industrial
demand
and
street
illumination.
Municipal
power
plants,
whether
public
or
private,
usually
did
not
produce
sufficient
and
reliable
power
to
serve
local
industries,
and
as
a
result
industries
had
to
provide
for
their
own
requirements.
Production
of
power
in
either
of
these
cases
was
generally
uncoordinated
and
poorly
plan-
ned.
Consequently,
while
in
most
localities
shortage
of
electric
power
was
seriously
felt,
at
the
same
time
duplication
of
electrical
sys-
tems
resulting
in
waste
of
capital
and
often
idle
surplus
power
did
take
place.
Few
of
the
municipalities
owned
their
own
power
installations.
In
some,
the
private
enterprises
owned
and
operated
the
installa-
tions,
while
in
others
the
facilities
were
own-
ed
and
operated
jointly
by
municipalities
and
private
companies.
And
there
were
still
other
towns
in
which
municipal
governments
owned
the
networks
and
relied
for
their
power
requirement
on
local
industries
with
surplus
energy.
Electricity
service,
in
Iran,
fell
and
still
falls
short
of
meeting
the
demand.
Accord-
ing
to
a
study
made
in
1957
by
the
Sanderson
and
Porter
consulting
engineers,
at
the
re-
quest
of
the
Plan
Organization,
there
were
at
the
time
only
two
centers
in
which
demand
was
largely
satisfied.
In
most
places
demand
exceeded
supply
at
ratios
running
two
to
six
times.
This
situation,
despite
recent
efforts
in
increasing
capacity
and
reducing
power
loss
through
overhauling
the
networks,
has
not
yet
been
fully
corrected,
since,
with
in-
crease
in
power
and
reasonable
improvement
of
the
quality
of
service,
the
demand
has
grown
at
a
faster
pace.
Applicants
were,
and
still
are,
required
to
pay
a
substantial
fee
with
no
definite
gua-
rantee
as
to
when
the
service
would
actually
be
rendered.
In
many
localities
the
service
rendered
customers
was
limited
and
often
power
supply
had
to
be
turned
off
in
one
area
so
that other
areas
could
be
supplied.
At
peak
hours,
voltage
fell
considerably
from
standard
strength
and
its
fluctuations
re-
(*)
The
author
would
like
to
acknowledge
and
express
his
gratitude
to
Mr.
Folke
Johansen,
Electrical
Engineer.
.of
the
Technical
Advisory
Group
in
Plan
Organization,
and
to
Dr.
Clair
Wiloox,
of
the
Harvard
Advisory
Group
and
the
Division
of
Economic
Affairs
of
the
Plan
Organization,
whose
advice
and
studies
were
extremely
useful
in
the
preparation
of
this
article.

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