Tehran, Iran, Sept. 9
By Mehdi Sepahvand – Trend:
Iran has plans to create up to 4,000 megawatts distributed-generation power within its 6th Development Plan, which will start in March, according to Arash Kordi, CEO of TAVANIR (Iran’s national power generation and distribution company).
Currently, Iran’s distributed power generation capacity stands at 800 megawatts, he said, Mehr news agency reported Sept. 9.
Distributed power generation, in contrast to former centralized power generation, relies on small power plants located in various places in a country to reduce transmission costs.
Construction of small power plants is one of the major policies of the company, Kordi said.
Iran currently has 75,000 megawatts installed power plants, making it the biggest power generator in the Middle East and the 14th biggest in the world. However, the country’s energy intensity is also high. It ranks 18th in the world in terms of electricity consumption.
The official added that to encourage the private sector to build small power plants, the government will guarantee buying their output in their first five years of operation.