Iran plans to sign a memorandum of understanding this week for the construction of 13 power plants across the country, according to deputy minister for energy, Saeed Zarandi.

The country has suffered a number of blackouts in recent weeks, which the government has blamed on high demand and a severe drought. President Rouhani promised that the government would seek to resolve the problems within the next two or three weeks.

Zarandi said yesterday that the ministry, on behalf of Iranian industries, had been in talks with Tavanir, the country’s electricity utility, over the programme. He added that the plants would be financed by 12 investors from different sectors and would be constructed within three years.

Altogether, they will add 10.5GW to Iran’s installed capacity, an increase of around 13%.

The plants will be located in Isfahan, Hormozgan, Markazi, Yazd, Kerman, Fars, Semnan and Khuzestan provinces.

The aim of the plants is to provide electricity to high-demand industries such as mining, thereby reducing the load on the national grid.

The minister did not say what kind of power plants would be built, or what the estimated cost would be.

At present, 69% of Iran’s electricity is generated by natural gas, 25% by oil and 6% by hydropower. Solar and wind are negligible at present, although the government is aiming to generate 7.5GW from those sectors by 2030.