Iran's Nuclear Power Capacity to be Tripled: Minister

Iranian Minister of Energy (Water and Electricity) Reza Ardakanian announced on Sunday that the country plans to increase its nuclear power capacity from its current 1,000 megawatts to 3,000 MW in future. In this regard, the construction of two new 1,000-megawatt-nuclear power plants is underway in Bushehr, Reza Ardakanian said. The minister lamented that lack of the required financial resources has slowed down the procedure of such constructions, however. Almost 25% of the electricity produced in the last fiscal (ended in March 20, 2020) was generated from renewable sources, chief executive officer of Iran’s Thermal Power Plants Holding Company said. “An estimated 313 billion kilowatt-hours of power was produced in 2019, of which one-fourth or 80 billion kWh was with the help of steam units in combined cycle power plants, hydropower stations, the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant and renewables,” Mohsen Tarztalab was quoted as saying by Bargh News website. Referring to the share of steam, he said it accounted for 42 billion kWh and helped save 11 billion cubic meters of natural gas in one year. - Mehr, Tasnim