Iran is to add another 324 megawatts of electricity generation capacity with opening a combined-cycle power plant that has cost nearly €310 million to build.
A contractor working for Iran’s Mostazafan Foundation (MFJ) said that the power plant will open in the city of Khorramabad, the capital of the Western Iranian Province of Lorestan.
Mohsen Amiri, who heads the Saba Power Holding, said that two units of the power plant set to open, will both run on natural gas and will generate 162 and 160 MW of electricity each.
Amiri said a steam unit of the power plant is expected to come on line until March 2021.
He said setting up the power plant will create 150 permanent jobs in Lorestan, a relatively poor region where jobless rate has soared over the past years.
The contractor said the combined-cycle power plant has been classified as one of the least polluting plants in Iran because of observing high standards on environment protection.
Iran, a major electricity producing country, has kept expanding its thermal power sector while introducing measures to diversify power generation sources.
Renewable sources account for a tiny portion of Iran’s current electricity generation capacity which is more than 85,000 megawatts.
The country, however, has invested massively to turn its traditional gas-fired power plants to the so-called combined-cycle systems where the steam is raised through using the exhaust heat from the combustion turbines.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said last month that his government would compensate any private sector investor launching a combined-cycle power plant through supplying free natural gas in the early years of operation.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS AGENCY