Azerbaijan, Baku, Jul.6/ Trend F.Milad/
A Chinese company has invested $500 million in building a coal-fired power plant in Tabas, central Iran, the deputy energy minister said.
The Mehr News Agency quoted Mohammad Behzad as saying that the power plant will have the capacity of generating 650 megawatts of electricity per day.
He put the total budget required for the project at around 7 trillion rials (some $570 million).
The project is scheduled to be completed within 74 months, he said, adding that the administration has prepared plans to establish coal-fired plants with the total capacity of 5,000 megawatts.
By the end of the fifth five-year economic development plan (2015), Iran will boost its electricity generation capacity by 25 gigawatts (GW) to reach 73GW, Energy Minister Majid Namjou said on February 7.
The country's installed power generation capacity is currently about 64GW, he added.
The country's electricity exports would amount to $1 billion by the end of the current calendar year (March 19, 2012).
Iran currently exchanges electricity with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.