TEHRAN- Iran's nominal electricity generation capacity will reach 80,000 megawatts (MW) by summer 2018, according to Iranian Deputy Energy Minister Houshang Falahatian.

The official put the country’s current nominal electricity generation capacity at 77,000 MW, Tasnim news agency reported.

For generation of 1,000 MW of electricity, 40 trillion rials (about $1.058 billion) is required, Falahatian said, adding, “We need to generate 7,000 MW of electricity each year which requires a fund of 280 trillion rials (about $7.407 billion).”

Iran increased its electricity generation capacity by 2.199 gigawatts (GW), boosting it to 76.302 GW, in the past Iranian calendar year 1395 which ended on March 20, according to a report by the Iran Power Grid Management Company released in late March.

Natural gas power plants accounted for 75.5 percent of the increased generation capacity, equaling 1.66 GW, IRNA reported.

Combined cycled power plants, hydroelectric power plants, distributed generation power plants, and renewable energy power plants also accounted for 14.6 percent, 3.4 percent, 5.7 percent, and 0.9 percent of the total rise in the country’s electricity generation capacity, respectively, the report added.

MA