TEHRAN – Iran’s first government-owned F-class power plant has been put into operation in southern Hormozgan Province, an official with Iran's Thermal Power Plant Holding (TPPH) announced.

“The first gas unit of Hengam power plant with a capacity of 307 megawatts (MW) has gone operational in Hormozgan province as Iran’s first F-class power plant,” Alireza Nasrollahi said.

Nasrollahi put the investment made in this power plant project at about €500 million, saying:” this power plant has two 307 MW F-class gas turbines and a 292 MW steam unit, with a total capacity of 906 MW and an efficiency of 58 percent.”

According to the official, the TPPH has put the plan for the construction of F-class power plants on the agenda to improve the efficiency of the country's electricity network and reduce energy consumption in the production sector.

Based on the mentioned plan, over 5,000 MW of such power plants will be constructed in eight different regions, he said.

Using F-class gas turbines will lead to lower fuel consumption in thermal power plants and is more environment-friendly.

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, according to the country’s Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution Management Company, known as Tavanir.

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.

Back in September 2020, Hamidreza Azimi, the deputy managing director for planning affairs in TPPH, had announced that 1,239 MW was added to the generation capacity of the country’s thermal power plants since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2020).

According to the data released by the Energy Ministry, from August 2013 up to August 2019, a total of 69 thermal power plants were constructed across the country to add 8,991 MW to the capacity of the country’s thermal electricity output.

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