Iran to boost power plants efficiency to 60%

Sep 16 - McClatchy-Tribune Content Agency, LLC - Khalid Kazimov Trend News Agency, Baku, Azerbaijan

Iran is taking measures to improve the efficiency of power plants across the country from 37 to 60 percent, Minister of Energy Hamid Chitchian said.

The minister added Iran is going to use high-tech systems such as the HPDC and HPAC, the official SHANA news agency reported Sept. 15.

He also pointed to the PMU system and said Iran is one of the 10 leading countries in the world to use the technology in their national dispatching systems to increase power stability.

According to Chitchian, there are over 600 dams in the country and another 160 hydroelectric projects are underway.

Iran's electricity output is 74 gigawatts with the facilities made by Iranian engineers.

Iranian companies are busy building power plants and grids in Tajikistan, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Syria, Iraq, Oman, and Indonesia.

There is also a huge power loss during the transmission and distribution process, which reaches around 56 billion Kwh (kWh -- unit for measuring energy), or more than 20 percent of total actual electricity energy generation capacity.

Iran has aimed to change all of its gas thermal power plants with 31 percent efficiency into combined power plants (CCPP). CCPPs share currently about 25.28 percent of the country's total power generation capacity.

During the last fiscal year, Iran decreased electricity export by 14 percent to a 9.95 billion kWh, while its electricity import increased by 2 percent to 3.769 billion kWh.

Edited by CN

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