Iran’s Thermal Power Generation Among Top 9 in World

According to Iran’s Ministry of Energy, thermal power plants account for 80.8 percent share of total power plants in the country.

The total production capacity of power plants in the world stands at 6,628 gigawatts and thermal power plants have a 61 percent share with the production capacity of 4,017 gigawatts.

Among non-thermal power plants, about 14.8 percent of total nominal capacity of power plants of the country is related to the hydroelectricity power plants, 0.9 percent to the renewable units, 1.3 percent to nuclear power plants, 0.5 percent to the diesel-powered units while the rest 1.8 percent is related to the small-scale gas units.

In Iran, gas-, steam- and combined cycle power plants with the production capacity more than 25 megawatts are known as mega thermal power plant.

In thermal power plants, thermal energy in the initial fuel is turned into electrical energy.

Back in early February, Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian said that the power generation of the country has increased by 11.4 times since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Ardakanian said that Iran has moved up 24 ranks in terms of generation of electricity in the past forty years.

According to statistics, Iran’s rank of power generation in the world promoted from 38 to 14 and presently, the Ministry of Energy is exchanging electricity with its neighbors.

He made the remarks on February 02 in a press briefing held at the venue of the Ministry of Energy where evaluated the performance of his ministry in the past forty years and added.

“With coordination made in this regard, a contract will be inked between Iran and Iraq for exporting electricity from the Islamic Republic of Iran to this neighboring country in a three-year plan,” added the Iranian official.

This level of cooperation will include the construction of a power plant, modernization of power plants and reduction of power grid losses in Iraq as well, he maintained.

He drew a comparison between performance of the Ministry of Energy before and after the Islamic Revolution and said, “The power capacity installed hit from 7,000 megawatts electricity in early years of the Islamic Revolution to 80,000 megawatts, showing a considerable 11.4 fold hike.

Currently, suitable power generation capacity has been paved for the private sector companies working in the field of power industry, he said and emphasized that the number of power generation companies in the country hit from 65 in early years of the Islamic Revolution to 875, showing a significant increase.

Ardakanian reiterated that giant steps have presently been taken in the sector of electricity generation in the country which is incomparable to the early years of the Islamic Revolution.

Iran is currently supplying Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan with electricity, CEO of Tavanir Company Mohammad Hassan Motavallizadeh said on January 04, adding that the country is poised to double the volume of its power export to neighboring countries.