TEHRAN – Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian said 21 new power plant projects worth 210 trillion rials ($5 billion) will go operational by the end of the current calendar year (March 20, 2020) to add 3000 megawatts (MW) to the country’s power generation capacity.

The official made the remarks in the inauguration ceremony of a 7 megawatt solar power plant in South Khorasan province in northeastern Iran on Thursday.
As reported, the €6-million power plant has been fully constructed by Iranian experts in a six-month period.

Accompanied by senior officials from the country’s water and electricity sectors, Ardakanian traveled to South Khorasan province on Thursday to visit the region’s energy infrastructure and inaugurate some projects.

Iran’s current power generation capacity stands at about 81 gigawatts, of which nearly 6 percent or 760 MW is the share of renewable power plants.

A total of 115 renewable power plants were active across Iran as of July 2019 and the construction is ongoing for another 32 plants to supply an extra 380 megawatts of renewables to the national power grid.

According to PAVEN, currently renewable power plants have created 43,450 job opportunities across the country and the volume of private investment in this sector has exceeded 124 trillion rials (over $2.95 billion).

Overall, in the next five years, Iran is aiming for a 5,000 MW increase in renewable capacity to meet growing domestic demand and expand its presence in the regional electricity market.

In early May, the energy ministry had announced that the government plans to inaugurate 22 new power plant units with a total capacity of 3,933 MW in the current Iranian year along with upgrading and increasing the efficiency of existing power plants to add another 461 MW of new capacity.

EF/