Ten private companies in Hamedan Province have got permits from the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Organization (Satba) to construct solar power plants in the western province, managing director of the provincial Electricity Distribution Company said.
“The plants will have a total capacity of 60 megawatts and three are expected to be launched by the end of the current fiscal year in March 2022,” Bargh News quoted Shirzad Jamshidi as saying.
Six solar farms each with 7 MW capacity are operating in Hamedan. Together they can generate about 70 gigawatt hours of electricity per annum and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Renewables have a small share in Iran's power industry that is mainly based on fossil fuels. Less than 1,000 megawatts of the total 85,000 installed capacity comes from renewables.
To boost green energy, more companies are investing in the field across Iran especially in Hamedan, 330 km west of Tehran, which has about 290 sunny days in a year.
"In addition to solar plants, small-scale power plants with distributed generation system are among energy sources that emit less greenhouse gases compared to the traditional thermal power plants,” he said.
There are now four small-scale power plants with DG system operational in the province with 25 MW total capacity.
Distributed generation refers to electricity produced in small quantities near the point of use, as alternative or supplement to traditional centralized grid-connected power.
The government is trying to forge partnerships with private companies by offering incentives to expand electricity generation. The Energy Ministry guarantees the purchase of electricity generated by small-scale plants for five years.
Establishing a major power plant with 500 MW capacity requires at least 50 hectares of land and 10-15 kilometers of gas pipelines to supply the plant. This is while a 25 MW power plant needs less than 0.3 hectares.
Moreover, there are four cogeneration or combined heat and power plants with a total capacity of about 30 MW operating in the province.
CHP is the use of a heat engine or power station to generate electricity and useful heat at the same time. Cogeneration is an efficient use of fuel.
In conventional power plants, some energy is lost as waste heat, but in cogeneration, most of the thermal energy is used.
CHP is an on-site generation resource and can be designed to support continued operations in the event of disaster or grid disruption by continuing to provide reliable electricity.
CHP systems provide crucial power reliability to a variety of users, especially hospitals, emergency medical centers desalination plants in coastal areas and the likes. Cogeneration stations can help the grid with stable power during peak hours.
