Thermal power plants and gas turbines are among the most important sources of electricity generation in Iran. The combination of two major challenges—an imbalance between electricity generation and consumption, and limited liquidity and financial resources—has turned the low-capital-cost electricity generation solutions from an option into a necessity. Compared with installing new power plants, upgrading existing gas turbines is not only faster but also requires significantly lower capital investment. Compressor upgrades, which focus on the cold section of gas turbines, involve lower costs and risks among all available upgrades. Therefore, the optimal use of compressor upgrades can substantially reduce the capital cost of rapidly increasing power generation. In this paper, the operational compressor upgrade options for the dominant gas turbine models used in Iran’s power plants are first presented. The power augmentation of each upgrade is then evaluated. Next, using statistical data on the maximum annual electricity consumption reported in the national energy balance reports, the share of annual electricity generation demand that can be met by the proposed compressor upgrades is determined. Finally, by modeling the capital cost of the upgrade plans and applying an optimization algorithm, the optimal selection of compressor upgrade packages is identified.