Turkish-owned firm in US$ 4.2 billion deal to build power stations in Iran

A Turkish-owned energy company has been contracted to build seven power plants in Iran, with a total installed capacity of 6 GW.

Once completed, the plants are expected to increase Iran’s current energy output by as much as 10%.

The developer, Unit International, a Brussels-based firm, is owned by Unal Aysal, a businessman and former chairman of Istanbul football club Galatasaray.

The contracts were signed in Tehran on 1 June, with Iran’s Thermal Power Plants Holding Company, which is acting on behalf of the country’s energy ministry.

According to Mohsen Tarztalab, MD of Thermal Plants, more than a thousand hours of negotiations took place, over a period of a year, before an agreement covering all the plants was reached.

Construction on the power stations is set to begin in the first quarter of 2017, with Unit providing the capital for the build.

Once completed, the agreement includes Unit operating the power stations for 20 years.

Mr Aysal said the deal constituted the largest investment made in Iran since UN sanctions were lifted and “one of the largest made in a single package in the world”.

Unit was building gas power stations in Iran before work was interrupted by the UN sanctions, including the 2.2 GW Rudeshur project in Tehran.