TEHRAN- The managing director of Iran’s Thermal Power Plants Holding Company (TPPH) announced that the necessary permits for the construction of the power plants were issued for the big industries.

Making the remarks in a press conference on Wednesday, Mohsen Tarztalab said that the big and high-consuming industries of steel, metals, and mining have been previously supplying for the permits to construct the electricity self-supply and self-consumption units, and their requests have been examined.

The minister of industry, mining, and trade examined 13 applications in this regard in a meeting with the mentioned industries, and finally a list was prepared and sent to the Energy Ministry, the official explained.

On July 7, the deputy industry, mining, and trade minister applied for the permits for constructing power plants with the total capacity of 10,536 megawatts (MW), and related agreement in principle was issued yesterday, he added.

Mobarakeh Steel Company for 1,500 MW of new capacity, the Persian Gulf Special Zone for 1,500 MW, Al-Mahdi Aluminum Company for 500 MW, Chadormalu Mining and Industrial Company for 1,000 MW and Golgohar Mining and Industrial Company Phase 2 for 1,300 MW were among the industries that applied, the official further announced.

Deputy Industry Minister Saeed Zarandi had told Mehr News Agency on Sunday that the Ministries of Energy and Industry, Mining and Trade are going to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) within a week for collaboration in constructing 13 power plants for industrial units across the country.

“This week or during the next week, a memorandum of understanding will be signed between the two ministers of industry and energy to start the construction of 13 power plants for industrial units across the country,” the official had stated.

“Since earlier this year, the Industry Ministry, on behalf of the industrial sector, started seeking a permit for building 13 power plants. We held several meetings with Tavanir [Iran's Power Generation, Distribution, and Transmission Company] and the Energy Ministry and proposed to sign a memorandum of understanding with the ministry. We also sent a letter to the Energy Ministry last week to expedite the issuance of the permit,” Zarandi explained.

According to the official, the mentioned power plants are financed by 12 investors from various industrial sectors and will be constructed within 2.5-3 years.

The official noted that the power plants will have a total capacity of about 10,536 megawatts whose output will be used by the mentioned industrial units.

As reported, the said power plants will be constructed in Isfahan, Hormozgan, Markazi, Yazd, Kerman, Fars, Semnan, and Khuzestan provinces.

One of the main goals of this program is to provide reliable and sustainable electricity to high-consuming industries and the country’s industrial parks in order to reduce the pressure imposed on the national grid in the industry and mining sector, according to Zarandi.

“If these power plants are built, a significant load will be removed from the national electricity distribution network,” he stressed.

The official further noted that in case of any surplus electricity generation, the industrial units can sell the surplus electricity to the Energy Ministry.

MA/MA