The second gas unit of Qeshm Combined Cycle Power Plant in Qeshm Island, off the Persian Gulf, has come on stream.
With a capacity of 170 megawatts, it was constructed by the private company and cost $225 million, IRNA reported.
The first 170 MW gas unit of the plant was launched last month and now it produces 340 MW. A steam unit is also under construction and will come online soon to boost capacity to 500 MW. Construction started in 2015.
Ghadir Investment Company, MAPNA Group and the Qeshm Free Zone Organization have collaborated for the project.
A water treatment unit will come on stream as the last part of the project. It will produce 100,000 million cubic meters of desalinated water when fully operational.
A combined cycle power station uses both gas and steam turbines to produce up to 50% more electricity from the same fuel than traditional power plants.
Qeshm is the largest island in the Persian Gulf close to the Omani port of Khasab.
Fishing is a leading occupation practiced by the inhabitants of the island. On what little cultivated land there is, dates and melons are grown. Salt is mined on the southeastern coast.
Qeshm is famous for its wide range of ecotourism attractions such as the Hara Marine Forests. According to environmentalists, about 1.5% of the world birds and 25% of Iran's native birds annually migrate to the forests, which are the first national geo park in Iran.
Besides the rise in power generation, production at Sarkhoun and Qeshm Gas Refining Company has increased to 14.4 million cubic meters per day.
The gas refinery is located 25 km northeast of Bandar Abbas, capital of Hormozgan Province, and has been operating since 1996.
Sarkhoun and Qeshm Gas Refining Company is active in the field of extraction and refining natural gas and associated gas condensate and liquefied gas in the Sarkhoun gas field in Bandar Abbas region and Gavarzin gas field in Qeshm Island.
The refinery produces dry gas, liquefied petroleum gas, natural gas liquids and methane for local industries. Dry gas of the refinery is also sent to Kerman Province through two pipelines.
Due to the proximity of Hormozgan along the coast of the Oman Sea and the Persian Gulf, the most important industries in the province include fishery, boat and shipbuilding along oil and gas industries.
Hormozgan has abundant of mineral resources and its chromite, red soil, lime, gypsum, sulfur and salt mines are famous.
