Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 16
By Rahim Zamanov - Trend:
Shams Sarakhs power plant, located in the north-eastern Sarakhs Special Economic Zone, has started producing electricity, the managing director of the zone, Mehdi Moravejolshariah, said on Nov. 16.
The power plant has the nominal capacity to produce 484 megawatt hours of electricity, the IRNA News Agency quoted Moravejolshariah as saying.
"The combined cycle power plant was constructed based on a BOO (build-own-operate) contract," he said.
"The first phase of the plant with the capacity of 20 megawatt hours has currently started operation," Moravejolshariah said.
He went on to note that the second phase of the plant with the capacity to produce 50 megawatt hours of electricity will start production in near future. Iran seeks to become a major regional exporter of electricity and has attracted more than $1.1 billion in investments for the construction of three new power plants.
Deputy Energy Minister Mohammad Behzad said in July that Iran has constructed power plants twice as many as the average number of power plants which have been constructed in the world during the past decade, The Mehr News Agency reported.
The power generation capacity in Iran has grown by seven per cent annually during the past 10 years, he said, adding that the figure has averaged 3.5 per cent in the world.
The country's power generation capacity is currently at 68.38 gigawatts, he added.
Iran currently trades power with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq.