Tehran, May 25, IRNA - Iran has begun construction of three power plants in the year to mid-March 2016 and they are expected to become operational in three years, said a deputy energy minister.
Houshang Falahatian added this is while, in the year to March 2015, the Energy Ministry handed over power plants generating 7,100 megawatts of electricity to the private sector.
Next year, more power plants will go on stream adding 2,000 MW of electricity to the national grid, he noted.
On the Energy Ministry's plans to cut down on energy dissipation in power plants, Falahatian said dissipation declined to 12.3 percent last year and the figure is expected to further drop by 2.3 percent to reach 10 percent.
'The Energy Ministry also plans to organize and revise the power industry's structure and bring in the technology to produce F-class turbines with an efficiency of 55 percent to the country.'
In the year to March 20, 2015, power plants supplied 2,831 MW of electricity to the national grid and this figure will reach 3,000 MW before the onset of summer.
'Plans are underway to convert gas power plants to combined cycle power plants in the next three years. This will boost their efficiency from 32 percent to 47 percent.'
The deputy minister noted the fund for implementing the projects in the power sector amounts to €6 billion which is procured from the National Development Fund.
He listed some of the Energy Ministry's achievements as increasing the capacity of renewable power plants by 65 MW, extending power transmission lines and power distribution network by 2,788 kilometers and 27,000 kilometers respectively and raising the capacity of substations by 13,600 mega-volt ampere.
He further noted that last year, 850 villages were also supplied electricity, increasing the number of Iranian villages connected to the national grid to 55,437.
'In addition, the Energy Ministry installed wind turbines generating 2.5 MW of electricity last year. In the current year, Iran achieved self-sufficiency in wind turbine production,' he concluded.
© IRNA 2015
