TEHRAN – Managing Director of Iran’s Mapna Group, which was in charge of the Parand power plant development project near the capital Tehran, says the completion of the project became possible only due to the people’s investment.

“Nearly 70 trillion rials (about $1.6 billion) of investment has been made to put the Parand Combined Cycle Power Plant into operation, and a big part of this investment was provided through people's small investments in the stock market,” Abbas Aliabadi told IRNA on Friday.

The project was completed without the need for attracting foreign investment or borrowing from the National Development Fund (NDF), and only by relying on the people's capital and the sale of Sukuk bonds which makes it very valuable, he explained.

Aliabadi further underlined the need for the conversion of the country’s thermal power plants into combined-cycle ones as one of the most important measures that should be taken in the country's energy sector.

Mentioning the positive impacts of the development of the Parand power plant, the official said: “One of the most important advantages of this project is going to be its environmental impacts, since reducing the temperature of the gases emitted by the power plant will have a very good effect on the environment.”

He also emphasized the reduction of fossil fuel consumption as another important outcome of the development projects, adding that the power plant’s efficiency has improved significantly.

Sustainability of the electricity grid, creating new job opportunities, preventing the outflow of capital and using the saved fuel in other parts of the country were also mentioned as other positive outcomes of the mentioned project.

The nominal capacity of electricity generation at Iranian power plants has reached 85,500 megawatts [85.5 gigawatts (GW)] following the completion of the development of the Parand power plant which added 480 MW to the country’s total power generation capacity.

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

MAPNA Group is a group of Iranian companies involved in development and execution of thermal and renewable power plants, oil & gas, railway transportation, and other industrial projects as well as manufacturing main equipment including gas and steam turbines, electrical generator,

EF/MA