The first steam unit of West Karun Power Plant in Dasht-e Azadegan County, Khuzestan Province, has come on stream.
With a production capacity of 198 megawatts, the unit is to help supply electricity during the hot summer when both the temperature and power consumption are rising, the Energy Ministry’s news portal Paven reported.
With the launch of the steam unit, the power station has been turned into a combined-cycle one and its efficiency has increased from 49% to 53%.
Its higher efficiency will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 185,000 tons per year and reduce the plant’s water consumption from 11 cubic meters per hour to about 4.3 cubic meters an hour.
In this project, the first 250-MW generator built by MAPNA Group has been used to reduce environmental pollutants.
The gas unit of the power station was connected to the network in 2020. When the second steam unit comes on stream, the plant will have a total capacity of 520 MW. It is the first MAPNA-owned private power plant that sells electricity to oil and gas industries.
Supplying power to four oilfields west of Karun River is the main objective of the project.
West Karun Oilfield development projects are part of the most important national projects in the country and their operations depend on reliable and sustainable electricity supply. West Karun Power Plant has been built and operated for this purpose.
The number of gas and stream units developed and synchronized to the grid by MAPNA has reached 180, with a total capacity of 25,000 MW.
MAPNA is a group of companies involved in the development and execution of thermal and renewable power plants, oil and gas, rail transport and other industrial projects.
It has been manufacturing and installing steam turbines to change single-cycle into eco-friendly combined ones in the past years.
The company is the largest manufacturer of power plant equipment in the Middle East and West Asia. It is a leader in power plant development and has projects in Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Oman and Indonesia.
Thermal power plants, which generate 80% of electricity in Iran, are seen as a major source of air pollution due to emission of greenhouse gases. Problems with natural gas supplies to gas-powered plants will lead to power outages.
A combined cycle power plant uses both gas and steam turbines to produce up to 50% more electricity from the same fuel than a traditional simple cycle plant. The waste heat from the gas turbine is sent to a nearby steam turbine that also generates electricity.
The efficiency and output of a combined-cycle plant distinguish it from others because of the increased power generation and lower emissions.
