TEHRAN - With transition to combined-cycle power plants from gas-fueled ones, Iran’s power plants are expected to have an average efficiency gain of 13-15 percent over a three-year time expansion, according to an Iranian Energy Ministry’s official.

The country’s power plants are slated to see an efficiency rise from the current 32 or 33 percent to 45-47 percent over a three-year time span, the IRNA news agency quoted Houshang Falahatian, the deputy energy minister for electricity and energy affairs, as saying on Sunday.

“Over the past decade, no investment had been made into transition from gas-fueled power plants to combined-cycle ones which coupled with the activity of simple-cycle units and aging gas-fueled units caused a low average efficiency stagnation,” Falahatian stated.

The efficiency gain will be achieved as over the coming 38 months all simple-cycle power plants, as far as structural considerations allowed for necessary changes, will be streamlined into combined-cycle ones, the official made the remark.

Falahatian further noted that contracts were signed last year to change more than 16,000 megawatt capacity of the country’s gas-fueled power plants to combined-cycle capacities through setting up thermal power stations, adding more than 7000 megawatts (MW) to the country’s electricity generation capacity once operationalized.

Having an electricity generation capacity of 68.38 gigawatts, Iran tops countries in the Middle East and North Africa in this regard.

Currently, Iran exports electricity to Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq and has the potentiality to generate 40,000 MW of electricity from other resources such as solar and wind.

AK/MA/