Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 7
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Iran's power production capacity will rise by 16,243 megawatts in coming years as a result of the investments made in this sector, Iran’s Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian said.
He said that once the projects become operational, Iran’s total installed power production capacity will increase from the current level of 76,000 MW to 92,000 MW, IRNA news agency reported Feb. 7.
Iran has thermal power plants under construction with electricity generation capacity up to 11,548 MW, he said, adding that 1,695 MW of the capacity increase will come from hydroelectric plants, 700 MW from renewable energy and 2,000 MW from nuclear power plants.
Iran plans to increase its power generation capacity by 3,500 MW in the coming year, Chitchian said.
Plans call for an 80 percent share of the private sector in power production by 2021. But the imbalance between cost and profit has raised concerns that if the problem is not addressed, few, if any, private enterprises would be interested in power production and distribution.
The gap between cost of electricity production and the final price is one of the main issues that hold back new investments.