TEHRAN – Iranian engineers have set a new record by reducing the installation and commissioning time of a large-scale Class E gas power unit to 99 days, significantly below the global benchmark of seven to eight months, a senior official said.

Speaking to state radio, a deputy at the Thermal Power Plants Holding Company (TPPH) said the achievement was recorded during the development of the Neka Power Plant, where the fourth gas unit was synchronized with the national grid 21 days ahead of schedule.

He said the expansion project includes two gas units with a capacity of 183 megawatts each and a 180-megawatt steam unit operating in a combined-cycle configuration. The first unit had already come online in July last year, during a 12-day conflict period, while the second unit was connected to the grid in late April this year.

The official noted that despite challenging conditions during the Ramadan period and the Nowruz holidays, work on power plant development projects continued without interruption. On average, about 1,000 personnel were active daily across 23 project sites linked to capacity expansion in both public and private sector power plants.

According to the official, around 40 percent of the installation and commissioning process for the second gas unit was completed during this period. From the arrival of main equipment — including turbines, generators and transformers — to electricity generation, the entire process took just 99 days.

He said this breaks both the previous domestic record of 130 days for the first unit at the same site and the typical global timeframe of seven to eight months for similar Class E gas units.

The units are fully domestically manufactured, with total investment estimated at 100 trillion rials (about $200 million). Originally designed for a capacity of 159 megawatts, Iranian engineers upgraded the units through engineering modifications and technological improvements to reach 183 megawatts.

Efficiency has also increased from 34 percent to 36.8 percent, and is expected to rise further to about 53 percent once the steam unit is completed, transforming the facility into a fully combined-cycle power plant.

The project is expected to supply electricity to around 240,000 people and play a key role in boosting capacity, supporting industrial, commercial and household consumers, and stabilizing voltage and frequency in the national grid, particularly during peak summer demand in northern regions such as Mazandaran and Tehran.

EF/MA