Iranian Deputy Energy Minister Sattar Mahmoudi said his ministry is resolved to enhance the country's power output through building new power plants and optimizing the fuel cycle of old plants.
Mahmoudi said in addition to boosting electricity generation through building new power plants, the ministry will change 16 thousand megawatts of gas-burning power plants to combined-cycle power plants.
“Electrical power industry enjoys key role in development of the country”, Mahmoudi said.
He, meantime, noted that boosting electricity generation by producing renewable energies, improving efficiency and management of consumption have created a large market for oil industry, mainly the private sector.
Late in October, Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's Energy Commission Ali Marvi announced Iran plans to considerably increase the output of its power plants next year.
"A sum of 15 percent of the Middle East's electricity output will belong to Iran by 2015," Marvi said, addressing the 29th International Electricity Conference in Tehran.
He noted that the power sector now has Iran's most important infrastructural industry with a crucial role in the country's industrial development.
Iran has constructed power plants twice as many as the average number of power plants constructed in the world during the past decade.
The power generation capacity in Iran has grown by 7 percent annually during the past 10 years.
Iran currently swaps power with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan (including Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic), Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq.
Iran seeks to become a major regional exporter of electricity and has attracted more than $1.1 billion in investments for the construction of three new power plants.