Work Begins on New Water, Power Projects Nationwide

Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian on Tuesday inaugurated a power plant project in the town of Parand near Tehran and broke ground on several water supply and electricity generation ventures, stretching from northeastern to central and western Iran, via videoconference.

According to the Energy Ministry’s news website, Ardakanian launched the steam unit of MAPNA’s combined-cycle power plant in Parand, about 30 kilometers southwest of Tehran.

A combined-cycle power plant produces up to 50% more electricity from the same fuel than a traditional simple-cycle plant. The waste heat from the gas turbine is routed to the nearby steam turbine, which generates extra power. The steam unit of the power plant consists of three 160-megawatt E-class turbines, six heat recovery steam generators, an air cooled condenser, a 400-kilovolt substation and a 3.5-km power line.

In addition to the 480-MW output capacity, the gas units of Parand power station are planned to be upgraded.

Ardakanian also launched a 50-MW wind plant in East Azarbaijan Province. The plant includes 20 wind turbines each with a power generating capacity of 2.5 MW as well as a 63-kV substation and electricity lines to connect the photovoltaic system to the national grid. Aqkand wind power plant, which will work under a 20-year build-own-operate contract, is projected to go on stream by June 2019. Work also began on Tuesday on several water and power projects in the provinces of Markazi, Khorasan Razavi and Hamedan.

Operations began in Markazi Province on reconditioning 450 kilometers of dilapidated power transmission lines as well as a project to supply electricity to 13,600 new subscribers in urban and rural areas. The official also inaugurated the first phase of a water supply complex in Chenaran, Khorasan Razavi Province, which provides potable water to more than 500 households in nine villages, and broke ground for the plan’s second phase.

The complex’s first phase cost 16 billion rials (about $370,000) and the second needs 27 billion rials (over $627,000).

Ardakanian also inaugurated another water supply complex in Asadabad, Hamedan Province, built at a cost of over 88.9 billion rials (about $1.9 million). The complex will supply water to over 14,000 people in the region.