TEHRAN – Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian said that nine new power plants are going to go operational across the country by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2021).

These power plants will be inaugurated under the framework of a program called “A-B-Iran” based on which several energy projects go operational across the country every week.

The nominal capacity of electricity generation at Iranian power plants has exceeded 86,000 megawatts with the inauguration of several new power plants over the past two years.

Currently, combined cycle power plants account for the biggest share in the country’s total power generation capacity followed by gas power plants.

Earlier this month, Ardakanian said that his ministry has implemented 128 projects with a total investment of 430 trillion rials (about $10.2 billion) under the framework of the “A-B-Iran” since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20).

Following “A-B-Iran”, the Energy Ministry plans to inaugurate 250 major water and electricity projects worth 500 trillion rials (about $11.9 billion) during the current year.

“We hope that until the end of the year, the inauguration of new projects will go on week by week and according to schedule, and we will do our best to fulfill this promise this year just like the previous year,” Ardakanian said in an interview with the national TV.

Since the beginning of the first phase of the program in the previous Iranian calendar year every week several energy projects went operational across the country.

According to the minister, so far, seven dams, eight irrigation and drainage network projects, four large water treatment plants, seven large wastewater treatment plants, 448 water supply projects to rural areas and seven supply projects to large cities as well as nine thermal power plants, 13 renewable power plants, five small scale power plants and 33 substations and transmission line projects have been implemented under the framework of the mentioned program.

EF/MA