Iran's power plant capacity to increase

Tehran, Dec 14, IRNA - Iran's Energy Ministry is to increase power plant capacity by 33,000 megawatts in the next five years. Sattar Mahmoudi, the deputy energy minister, said concurrent with the implementation of projects, the ministry plans to turn 16,000 MW of gas power plants into combined cycle units. He said that the country's power industry intends to execute a several plans to increase production capacity. According to Mahmoudi, increasing the production capacity of renewable energies by 1,000 MW, will reduce losses and implement effective management over consumption which have provided domestic power industry, particularly private sector companies, with an expanded market. He added that the power industry is among the main bases of a country’s development. “Iran has achieved self-sufficiency in power distribution and is 80 percent and 90 percent self-reliant in power production and transmission respectively, which are indicative of the round-the-clock efforts of the hardworking staff of the power sector,” he said. The official said power industry plays an important role in enabling the government to achieve the targets set by the “Resistance Economy” policies, helps boost employment and improves security as well as people’s lives. “Due to the lack of monetary resources, implementation of new power plants has slowed. The government should allocate more funds to the power sector plans in the next year’s budge bill to accelerate the progress of projects,” he said. Mahmoudi urged the private sector to double efforts to speed up the development of power industry./end