Plan to Build 1st Coal Power Plant

Iran is taking steps to build its first coal power plant in the city of Tabas in South Khorasan Province, an official at the Thermal Power Plants Holding Company (TPPHC) said. "The Export Development Bank of Iran is ready to finance the power plant project," Alireza Nasrollahi was quoted as saying by IRNA on Wednesday. He added that Iran’s engineering and industrial MAPNA Group and Shanghai Electric, a Chinese multinational electricity equipment manufacturing company, will develop the power project. The official noted that the scheme was launched eight years ago, but it hit the rocks following the imposition of tougher international financial and trade sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program. Nasrollahi expressed optimism that the plant's construction would commence in the near future. The power plant will have an electricity production capacity of 650 megawatts and will receive its feedstock from the Mazino coal mine in Tabas.