TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran has added 464 megawatts (MW) to its electricity generation capacity by upgrading the gas units of power plants, announced the director general of the Research and Construction Department of Thermal Power Plants Holding Company (TPPH).
According to Esmail Namazi, the generation capacity of the country’s thermal power plants has increased by 2,000 MW by implementing improvement and modernization projects during the current Iranian year (starting March 20), IRNA reported.
“These projects have been carried out with an investment of about $101.6 million while the construction of a new power plant, with 1,000 MW of capacity, requires about $357.142 million of investment,” he said.
Currently, a total of 478 thermal power plants are operating throughout Iran which includes both gas power plants and combined-cycle plants.
Over two-thirds of Iran’s thermal power plants are owned and operated by the country’s private sector and private owners are currently generating nearly 67 percent of Iran’s thermal power.
The total electricity generation capacity of Iran, currently stands at about 85,000 MW, over 90 percent of which is supplied by thermal power plants.
In September, Hamidreza Azimi, the deputy managing director for planning affairs in TPPH, announced that 1,239 MW had been added to the generation capacity of the country’s thermal power plants since the beginning of the current Iranian year.
According to data released by the Energy Ministry, from August 2013 to August 2019, a total of 69 thermal power plants were constructed across the country, to add 8,991 MW to the capacity of the country’s thermal electricity output.
