BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 12
By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:
By the end of this Iranian year (March 21, 2020), Iran’s electricity generation capacity will grow by 3,000 megawatts, Iran’s Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian told reporters, Trend reports referring to the Iranian Energy Ministry’s website.
Ardakanian said that power plants will be commissioned in nine provinces.
The minister added that the first unit of the 307-megawatt Dalah Thermal Power Plant was commissioned in Kermanshah province on Dec. 11.
Ardakanian said that as a result of the steps taken by Iranian experts, electricity generation at two other plants in the province grew by about 48 megawatts on Dec. 11.
The minister added that it was decided to put into operation 227 major projects in the water and electricity industry, with investments worth 330 trillion rials (about $7.8 billion) in 31 Iranian provinces, in the second half of the year.
The Iranian Energy Ministry plans to allocate approximately 90 trillion rials (about $2.1 billion) for water projects next Iranian year (March 21, 2020 - March 21, 2021). With the approval of the project in the parliament, the projects are expected to be implemented the next year and half of the subsequent year (starting March 21, 2022), Ardakanian noted.
Commenting on the obtaining a loan of $5 billion from Russia, the Iranian minister said that $2.2 billion of this loan was approved by Russia and a number of projects concerning the remaining $2.8 billion were offered to Russia for consideration.
Ardakanian added that these projects were reviewed and agreed upon by Iran and Russia and the work on the preparation of a contract will start early next year.
The capacity of Iranian power plants has exceeded 83,000 megawatts.