RoydadNaft –  Iran ranks among the world’s 10 countries with the largest thermal power generation capacity, a senior official at the Thermal Power Plants Holding Company (TPPH) said.

Hamed Seyrfianpour, acting deputy for planning and management development, said Iran’s thermal power capacity has increased seventeen-fold since the 1979 revolution to about 78,000 megawatts, according to a statement carried by IRNA on Monday.

He said around 2,200 megawatts of power capacity, along with major transmission lines and substations, were damaged during the eight-year war, adding that repairs were difficult due to economic and political sanctions.

Iran currently operates 149 thermal power plants that generate more than 90 percent of the country’s electricity needs, Seyrfianpour said. Annual electricity output from these units has risen thirty-six-fold since the early post-revolution years to about 367 billion kilowatt-hours.

He said 639 thermal power generation units have been built nationwide, with more than 69 percent of installed capacity owned by the private sector. Capacity operated by private firms and industries has reached about 54,000 megawatts following the launch of new projects.

Seyrfianpour said sustained efforts by domestic specialists have also placed Iran among the world’s top five manufacturers of power-generation turbines.

He added that while the country’s population has grown only about 2.4 times over the same period, the expansion of generation capacity has significantly improved access to electricity nationwide.