Installed power generation capacity has risen by 7,450 megawatts (7.4 gigawatts) after President Hassan Rouhani took office in mid-2013. Houshang Falahatian, a deputy energy minister, made the statement on the sidelines of an energy conference in Semnan Province on Wednesday, IRNA reported.
"Plans are in place to add an extra 4,000 MW to the national grid by the end of the current fiscal that will end in March 2018," Falahatian added.
According to the official, $6 billion was invested in power projects in the previous fiscal that ended in March, raising installed capacity by 2,000 MW.
Pointing to the $1billion investment in electricity distribution infrastructure in the last fiscal, he said boosting power plants' efficiency with the help of modern turbines is a priority for the Energy Ministry. The ministry aims to build new power plants to generate 25,000 MW by 2021.
New power stations are slated to run on F-Class and H-Class turbines which would have efficiency rates of 58% or higher, the official said. Asked about power wastage in the national network, Falahatian said that electricity wastage in the national grid was cut to 10.9% from 15.5% in less than two years. Wastage will be cut to less than 10% in the current fiscal.
With an installed power production capacity of around 75,000 MW, Iran meets almost 80% of its electricity demand from aging thermal plants operating for decades.
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