TEHRAN – Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Thursday inaugurated five new power plants with a total capacity of 1,026 megawatts (MW) in five provinces across the country, IRNA reported.

As reported, the mentioned units were put into operation in Zanjan, East Azarbaijan, West Azarbaijan, Razavi Khorasan, and Fars Provinces.

With the inauguration of the new power plant units, the country’s nominal electricity generation capacity has exceeded 86,000 MW.

Over the past decade, constant temperature rising and the significant decrease in rainfalls across Iran have put the country in a hard situation regarding electricity supply during peak consumption periods.

In this regard, the Energy Ministry has been following new programs to meet the country’s power demand during peak periods and to prevent outages.

Constructing new units in the country’s power plants and also building new power plants for major industries are among the mentioned programs that are being pursued seriously by the ministry in collaboration with other related government entities.

Back in March, Energy Minister Ali-Akbar Mehrabian said that 1,130 MW will be added to the country’s power generation capacity in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 21).

“Increasing the electricity generation capacity, we hope that we will pass the summer with the least difficulty”, the minister said at the time.

Based on the Iranian Energy Ministry’s latest data, the Islamic Republic’s total power generation capacity reached about 85,500 gigawatts in the first six months of the current year, 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