Baku, Azerbaijan, April 12
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
The Iranian Bank of Industry and Mine is going to invest $1.5 billion in power plant construction across the country in the current Iranian fiscal year (ending March 20, 2016).
The bank's CEO Aliashraf Afkhami said that the move comes in line with the need for the Ministry of Energy to provide enough power for industrial and infrastructural sectors, SHANA news agency reported April 12.
Over $600 million funding has been put aside for Behbahan and Kermanian power plants which will turn operational in 2-3 years, he stated.
Afkhami also said that for the current Iranian year, the bank will increase its facilities balance from 210 trillion rials (around $7.5 billion, at 28,215 rials for USD1) to 310 trillion rials.
This means 100 trillion rials more facilities for fixed investment and working capital, over 50 percent of which will fund mainly small and mid-size units, he said.
Iranian Deputy Minister of Energy Houshang Falahatian said that the country will boost its electricity production by 10 gigawatts in the first half of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 21 to September 22).
Iran added 1,558 MW of natural gas power plants, 644-MW of combined-cycle power plants and 520-MW of hydropower plants to its power generation capacity from March 21, 2014 to March 3, 2015.
Power generation capacity in Iran has grown by seven percent annually during the past 10 years.
Iran's total electricity generation currently stands at 70,000MW.