TEHRAN- Following the synchronization of the second steam unit of Urmia combined cycle power plant, the total capacity of Iran’s thermal power plants has reached 70,000 megawatts (MW), head of the Thermal Power Plants Holding Company (TPPH) announced.

According to Mohsen Tarztalab, about 1000 MW has been added to the power generation capacity of the country’s thermal power plants since the Iranian calendar month of Shahrivar (started on August 21), IRIB reported.

The official noted that currently, 587 units are active in 129 thermal power plants across the country, of which 383 units with a total capacity of 47,000 MW are operated by the private sector.

Tarztalab added that 67 percent of the country’s thermal power plants are operated by the private sector, saying: “According to the plan, by the end of this calendar year (March 21, 2022), the capacity of the country's thermal power plants will be increased by 1,500 MW, through constructing new units and upgrading the production capacity of the existing units.”

At present, the installed capacity of all power plants in the country, including thermal, hydropower, nuclear, distributed generation, renewable, and diesel, has reached 85,559 MW, of which about 81 percent is accounted by thermal power plants.

Combined cycle units with a capacity of 31,179 MW account for 36.4 percent of the total capacity of the country’s thermal power plants while gas units with a capacity of 21,992 MW have a 25.7 share, and the share of steam units is 18.5 percent with a total capacity of 15,829 MW.

Back in July, Esmail Namazi, the director-general of TPPH Research and Construction, had mentioned the inactivity of hydropower plants due to drought, the rising temperature, and the increase in electricity demand, as well as the inactivity of the country’s nuclear power plants on some days as reasons for the increase in electricity generation by thermal power plants.

“Thermal power plants have tried to stay active for more hours by shortening the time of their periodic repairs and fixing occasional problems in the power plant units, to compensate the electricity generation deficit in the country,” Namazi said.

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

EF/MA