About 33 gas- and steam-powered units in thermal power stations have been synchronized with the national power grid since 2021, director general of the planning office at the Thermal Power Plant Holding Company said.
“The new facilities have added 6,000 megawatts of power to the network to meet rising demand,” Hadi Modaqeq was also quoted as saying by the Energy Ministry’s news portal Paven.
Projects are being developed to boost the country’s power production capacity by 15,000 MW over the next two years, he added.
The official noted that Iran’s current electricity generation capacity stands at 90 gigawatts, of which 73 GW are produced in thermal power plants.
Referring to a memorandum of understanding signed last year between the Energy Ministry and the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade for the construction of a power plant by industries, he said, “Based on the deal, 1,400 MW from power plants will be generated by the summer peak season.”
According to the MoU, the construction of 24 power stations in 36 months by industries for generating 10,000 MW is on the agenda.
Industries account for 40% of Iran’s annual power consumption of 280 billion kilowatt hours. If industries complete their power projects, the Energy Ministry guarantees that adequate power will be supplied to factories even during peak demand hours, regardless of households’ consumption level.
Modaqeq noted that about 850 MW are also expected from renewable power stations to become operational by the end of summer.
Currently, around 1,000 MW are derived from renewable sources, such as solar, wind, small-scale hydroelectric and waste-to-energy power plants and biomass factories.
In addition, about 290 MW of power plants with distributed generation system (small power plants with a capacity of under 25 MW) will be put into operation.
Power from DG systems has a wide range of application like supplying electricity to remote rural areas, providing back-up to customers in the event of grid failure and supporting power during peak demand to help reduce network load.
DG systems also fulfill key requirements in an optimized electricity system, namely security, improved efficiency, high system reliability, affordable energy cost and low environmental impacts.
The official said the program to repair and upgrade power plants will also help add 500 MW to their capacity.
Operations to repair and overhaul thermal power plants started last September and will end in May.
A total of 583 gas and steam units in 130 power plants will be ready by June to help ensure sustainable supply during peak demand.
THPCC oversees dozens of fossil fuel power plants with an installed capacity of over 73,000 MW, which form the bulk of Iran's electricity demand.
