The planned plant will comprise four 250-MW turbines, which have not been used before in gas or steam-powered electricity stations in Iran. Industry sources say a consultant is likely to be appointed in the second quarter, while engineering will take about a year to allow further studies to be carried out on the turbine size and the exact location of the plant. A lump-sum turnkey tender is then planned to be issued in 2005, with contract completion due for 20 months. Details of the financing for the plant have not yet been released by TREC, which is understood not to be looking at a build-own-operate (BOO) or build-operate-transfer (BOT) model.

Power plant construction has traditionally been handled by Iran Power Development Company (IPDC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Energy Ministry affiliate Iran Power Generation & Transmission Company (Tavanir). Industry sources say this is the first time a regional company has launched a generation expansion project alone, an experiment that, if successful, could start a trend.

IPDC is now working on a 3,000-MW expansion of capacity in Tehran, Urumiyeh, Fars province and Khorassan province. The contractor is the state-owned Iran Power Plant Projects Management Company (Mapna)in partnership with Germany's Siemens. The consultant is Ghods Niroo. According to Energy Ministry plans, Tavanir is to add 12,000 MW to Iran's capacity over 2001-11, of which the 3,000-MW project is the first tranche.

The 250-MW turbines were to have been introduced during this expansion phase but are now expected to be introduced later. The second 3,000-MW project was due to be tendered last year, but budgeting problems have forced a delay and consultants have not yet been invited to bid for the project. The locations of the new capacity have still to be determined.

There are four significant power engineering consulting companies in Iran: the Energy Ministry affiliate Moshanir; Ghods Niroo, which functions as a private company but is owned by government shareholders; Mushavir Niroo, which is now in private hands; and Monenco Iran, established as a subsidiary of Canada's Montreal Engineering Company (Monenco), but now wholly locally-owned with Mapna as the major shareholder.