To help improve power supply in Lorestan Province (especially in summertime), the second gas unit of Khorramabad Combined Cycle Power Plant became operational on Monday, head of the Department of Private Power Plant Projects in Iran's Thermal Power Plants Holding Company, a subsidiary of the Energy Ministry, said.
“The new unit, built in three years, doubled the station’s daily generation capacity which now is 324 megawatts and will reach 484 MW in October,” Amir Doudabinejad was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Costing $153 million, the unit was funded jointly by private firms (Iran Power Plant Investment Company, Saba Water and Power Investment Corporation, Farab Investment and trade Company) and the National Development Fund of Iran, the sovereign wealth fund.
“In addition to creating jobs, the gas unit will help cut consumption of eco-unfriendly liquid fuels like diesel and mazut, which are the main contributors to air pollution,” he noted.
A 12-km transmission line will connect the power plant to the national grid. The first gas unit (capacity 162 MW) joined the grid in 2019.
Referring to the steam unit that is under construction with help from the three investment firms and NDFI, he noted that as soon as it comes on stream (October), 160 MW will be added to production capacity, increasing daily production to 484 MW.
The newly launched unit has increased national power capacity by 160 MW
Completion of the steam unit is estimated to cost $190 million, 38% ($72 million) of which will be funded by private companies and the rest ($118 million) by NDFI.
The newly launched unit has increased the country’s installed capacity by 160 MW, raising it to 84 gigawatts.
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 routed to the nearby steam turbine, which generates extra power.
Iran meets almost 80% of its electricity demand from aging thermal plants that have reportedly outlived their usefulness and need to be replaced with modern infrastructure.
Steps have been taken to gradually convert conventional plants into efficient combined-cycle units. Close to 12,000 MW is produced from hydroelectric plants and 1,000 MW from the sole nuclear power plant in Bushehr in the south.
Small-Scale PV
In related news, IRNA quoted Freidoun Khodnia, head of provincial electricity company, as saying that electricity demand in 12 remote regions in Khorramabad and Aligudarz counties (in the province) is met fully by small-scale photovoltaic power stations.
"Green energy accounts for 1.3 megawatts of power generated in the province that is enough for 170 homes located in rugged terrain." Thanks to the angle at which sunlight strikes the panels in Lorestan, the plants' efficiency is 20% higher than other hot and dry provinces like Kerman.
A province in western Iran enveloped by the Zagros Mountains, Lorestan is one of the oldest places not only in Iran but in the whole world.
The provincial capital, Khorramabad, is one of the important cities in western Iran. It is located near a freeway connecting Tehran and Bandar Imam and is part of the North-South Corridor that bestows upon it strategic significance.
Despite the region’s huge agriculture potential, thanks to its rich soil, poor access to water in villages (like in most other areas) is pushing poor farmers and laborers out of their homes and toward big cities already burdened with overpopulation.
Hardly 30% of Lorestan’s 2 million people now live in villages as people are moving out in droves in search of work.
