TEHRAN – The annual overhaul program of Iran’s thermal power plants has been completed and the power plants are ready to supply electricity during the summer peak consumption period, said Esmail Namazi, the director-general of Research and Construction Office of Thermal Power Plants Holding Company (TPPH).

According to Namazi, the TPPH’s annual overhaul program starts every year in early September and will continue until late May in the next year, IRNA reported.

“All units must be ready for operation by the beginning of Khordad [third Iranian calendar month that begins on May 21] to supply the national electricity grid during the peak consumption period, so the overhaul program for about 93,000 megawatts (MW) of power plants has been completed,” the official said.

Given that the total nominal capacity of the country's thermal power plants is about 83,000 MW, the figure for the overhaul program indicates that some power plant units have been repaired more than once during the said period.

Mentioning the problems that the outbreak of coronavirus created in the way of the program, the official said: "In the last days of the previous year [ended on March 19], the outbreak of coronavirus created some problems for the overhaul of thermal power plants, especially for units whose repair schedule was delayed."

The overhaul program required repair teams to be dispatched to different regions across the country, but at that time due to the transport restrictions we faced difficulties for obtaining license to move personnel to other provinces, Namazi explained.

Summer months constitute Iran’s peak demand periods, so most of the power plant overhaul programs are scheduled to take place during autumn, winter and spring seasons.

Over two-thirds of Iran’s thermal power plants are owned and operated by the country’s private sector and private owners are currently generating nearly 67 percent of Iran’s thermal power.

Currently, a total of 478 thermal power plants are operating throughout Iran which includes both gas power plants and combined cycle plants.

Iran’s total power generation capacity currently stands at about 85,000 MW, more than 90 percent of which is supplied by thermal power plants.

EF/MA