TEHRAN - Iran’s thermal power plants have generated over 140 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20), an official with the Thermal Power Plants Holding (TPPH) announced.

According to Esmail Namazi, the director of TPPH’s Production and Technical Office, combined cycle power plants accounted for 58 percent of the thermal power plants total electricity generation during the mentioned period, Mehr News Agency reported.

Power generation by combined cycle units registered a tow-percent increase compared to the previous year’s same period, according to the official.

Pointing out that since the beginning of the year, most of the country's electricity needs have been provided by thermal power plants, Namazi said: during this period, the amount of electricity produced by gas units also increased by 1.5 percent to 27 million MWh, and the production share of steam units also increased to 32 million MWh.

Currently, a total of 478 thermal power plants are operating throughout Iran which includes both gas power plants and combined cycle plants.

Over two-thirds of Iran’s thermal power plants are owned and operated by the country’s private sector and private owners are currently generating nearly 67 percent of Iran’s thermal power.

Iran’s total power generation capacity currently stands at about 90,000 MW, more than 90 percent of which is supplied by thermal power plants.

Back in May, the head of Iran’s Thermal Power Plant Holding (TPPH) said the country is the world’s ninth-biggest producer of thermal electricity.

Mentioning an increase of 9,000 megawatts (MW) in the capacity of the country’s thermal power plants over the past two years, Abdolrasoul Pishahang said thermal power plants currently account for 92 percent of Iran’s total power production capacity.

“Last year, 389 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity were produced in the country's power plants, and thermal power plants with the production of 360 billion kilowatt-hours supplied 92.5 percent of the country's electricity needs,” Pishahang said.

Stating that last year more than 2,000 MW were added to the capacity of thermal power plants in the country, the official added: “The readiness factor of thermal power plants reached 98 percent during the peak period of last year, and we are trying to record a very good performance this year as well.”

Emphasizing that 50 percent of the country's power plants are domestically built, he said: “Currently, 95 percent of the equipment needed by the country's power plants is made by domestic experts, and by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 2025), with the production of F-class turbine blades in the country, we will be completely self-sufficient in the field of manufacturing these types of turbines.”

EF/MA