Iran’s electricity production capacity up by 6.1 GW in year to late March

Iran raised its electricity production capacity by 6.1 gigawatts (GW) in the calendar year to late March amid efforts to respond to a rising demand for power in the country’s household and manufacturing sectors.

According to Press TV, Head of Iranian Energy Ministry’s Department for Electricity Homayoun Haeri said on Sunday that Iran had launched 4,150 GW of new power plants over the past calendar year.

Haeri said that the capacity at other power plants in Iran had increased by 1,350 GW over the year to March while another 0.6 GW had been added to the country’s power generation capacity as a result of repair projects implemented on idle or damaged electricity stations.

“Another record registered last (calendar) year was the increase in the efficiency rate at power plants which reached 39.1%,” he said.

The official added that some 1,316 GW of new power plants launched in Iran in the year to March were of the efficient combined cycle type which rely on a system in which the exhaust heat from a first turbine is used to raise steam in a boiler.

“That helped save some two billion liters of fuels,” said Haeri.

Iran relies on thermal power plants for a bulk of its electricity demand. Government figures show the country has a power generation capacity of around 90 GW and a peak demand of nearly 66 GW over hot summer days.

ME