TEHRAN – Iran’s thermal power plants generated 129 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity in the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-August 22), registering a 2.5-percent rise compared to the previous year’s same period.

As IRNA reported, thermal power plants accounted for 92 percent of the country’s total electricity generation in the mentioned five months.

Over the past year, the capacity of the country’s thermal power plants has increased by more than 4,000 megawatts (MW) which is an unprecedented record in the history of the country’s electricity industry.

According to the Energy Ministry data, Thermal Power Plants Holding Company (TPPH) managed to complete its annual overhaul program on 94,000 MW capacity of power plants from September 2021 to May 2022 to get all the power plants ready for the summer peak consumption period.

Earlier this month, Mohammad Ramezani, the acting head of TPPH Projects Development Department announced that the electricity generation capacity of the country’s thermal power plants has reached 72,000 MW.

Ramezani said that the private sector accounts for 68 percent of the electricity generated by thermal power plants.

Increasing the country’s power generation capacity and preventing blackouts during peak consumption periods have been among the Energy Ministry’s top priorities since the current government administration took office in August 2021.

To this end, the ministry had put it on the agenda to increase the capacity of thermal power plants by 5,300 MW by the current Iranian calendar year’s peak consumption period.

Back in August 2021, Energy Minister Ali-Akbar Mehrabian announced that his ministry was planning to boost the country’s power generation capacity by 35,000 MW over the next four years.

The mentioned figure would be achieved through the construction of thermal power plants with 15,000 MW of capacity, and renewable power plants with the capacity of 10,000 MW by the public and private sectors, as well as the construction of new power plants with 10,000 megawatts capacity by large industries.

The Islamic Republic’s total power generation capacity currently stands at about 85,500 MW, most of which is supplied by thermal power plants.

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

EF/MA