"Over 252 million cubic meters of natural gas have been delivered to Shahid Mofatteh Power Plant in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, showing a sharp decline in the plant’s gas use," Abdollah Fayyaz also told ISNA on Sunday.
"The power plant, which accounts for 33.2% of the province’s total gas consumption, burnt more than 326 mcm during the similar period of last year."
The power station is located 47 km northeast of Hamedan. With a design capacity of 1,000 MW, it has four units, the first of which was commissioned in 1995 and the last in 1997, according to Financial Tribune.
According to the official, about 757 million cubic meters of natural gas were consumed in Hamedan in three months.
Fayyaz stressed that the residential sector burnt over 408 million cubic meters of gas in the said period, of which urban and rural areas used 307.5 mcm and 101 mcm, respectively.
He added that the industrial sector has also consumed close to 96.5 million cubic meters of the clean fossil fuel.
Hamidreza Azimi, the deputy of Thermal Power Plants Holding Company for planning, told IRNA in January that negotiations were underway with Japan International Cooperation Agency to finance the renovation of Iran's major power plants, including Shahid Mofatteh.
"The initiative is aimed at not only boosting the efficiency of power stations but also minimizing maintenance costs and increasing their lifespan," Azimi said, adding that Iranian power plants' efficiency stands at 37.8% which, as per the Sixth Five-Year Development Plan (2017-22), is expected to reach 40%.
With an installed power production capacity of around 80,000 megawatts, Iran meets almost 80% of its electricity demand from aging thermal plants that have been operating for decades. It is reported that steps have been taken to gradually convert the conventional plants into combined-cycle units whose efficiency is much higher.