$1.6b Thermal Power Plant for Hormozgan

Operations to construct a 1,400 megawatt thermal power plant in Sirik County, Hormozgan Province in south of Iran will begin in February in collaboration with Russia, managing director of Iran's Thermal Power Plants Holding Company (TPPHC) said.

“The power plant which comprises four units, each with a capacity to produce 350 MW, will be up and running in five years," Mohsen Tarztalab was quoted as saying by ISNA.

Commenting on collaboration between TPPHC and Russia’s Technopromexport, Tarztalab added that the plant is estimated to cost around $1.6 billion. The Russian firm will pay 85% of the cost and the rest will come from Iran's Bank of Industry and Mine.

Elaborating on details of the initiative, the official noted that the project's construction will create jobs for 3,000 people and 500 more will work at the power station as soon as its first unit goes on stream.

The thermal power plant in Hormozgan will have 40% more electricity production capacity compared to Iran's only nuclear plant, which has an output capacity of 1,000 MW and took nearly two decades to be completed.

Asked about the construction of a gas-fired power plant in the port city of Bandar Abbas, he said the project's construction started three months ago.

The power plant will have an output capacity of approximately 600 megawatts, sufficient to supply electricity to 150,000 homes. According to reports, German industrial company Siemens shipped a F-Class turbine to Iran last year for the Bandar Abbas power plant.

Tarztalab noted that several dilapidated plants producing 3,000 MW have been phased out and 7,500 MW capacity in some aging power stations is under renovation.

An estimated 62,000 MW, or 80% of Iran’s 75,000-MW output, is generated from thermal plants that burn fossil fuels. In addition, 12,000 MW comes from hydroelectric plants and 1,000 MW from the sole nuclear power plant in Bushehr, south of Iran.