News / Energy

Iran investing 6 billion euros on power

Tuesday, 26 May 2015 10:20 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 26 May 2015 10:20 AM ]

A general view from Damavand combined cycle power plant in Iran.

Iran has started building new power stations to generate 10,000 megawatts of electricity at a cost of six billion euros, a minister has said.

Several deals have been concluded with the private sector to produce 7,100 megawatts by converting gas-powered stations to combined cycle plants, deputy Energy Minister Houshang Fallahian said.

Over the past year, Iran has also built new capacities for generating more than 2,800 megawatts of power, which will rise to 3,000 MW by the summer, he said.

The country’s total power generation capacity will surpass 73,000 MW within the next month, Fallahian said.

Iran will also join soon the club of few nations capable of fully building a wind power plant all by itself, he said. It built its first wind power farm with a capacity to produce 2.5 MW in the northern Qazvin province last year.

The country also plans to produce 20,000 megawatts of nuclear power over the next 20 years to free its oil and gas exports.

Its first nuclear plant in Bushehr joined the national grid with a power of around 60 megawatts in September 2011. The 1,000-megawatt plant is currently operating at 40% capacity.

President Hassan Rouhani has said that Iran would build a second nuclear plant at Bushehr. The scale of Iran’s nuclear program would be determined by its civilian energy needs, he has said.

HB/HB

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