Iran's Thermal Power Plants Holding Company has signed a contract with Mapna, the engineering and energy giant, to decommission the 52-year old Besat Thermal Power Plant in south Tehran.
As per the agreement signed Saturday in Tehran between Mapna CEO Abbas Aliabadi and Mohsen Tarztalab the TPPHC boss, an ageing turbine in the power station will be replaced with a modern gas turbine (MGT-75) manufactured by Mapna, the Energy Ministry news website reported Sunday.
“The new turbine will cut water consumption from 18 million liters per day to less than 800,000 l/d,” Tarztalab noted, and said the project's installation and launch will be entirely undertaken by domestic engineers and technicians.
The ageing plant uses the equivalent of water used by 70,000 people in the capital in one day. Per capita water consumption in Tehran is 250 liters a day.
Based on data from Iran Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company (Tavanir), efficiency of Besat Power Station had dropped to less than 25% and it annually uses 500 million cubic meters of gas as feedstock.
Besat has a capacity of 200 megawatts -- a small part of the 3,000 MW Tehran needs. Other power plants in Tehran are Tarasht in the west and Rey in the south which have a capacity of 800 MW and 65 MW, respectively.
“The new turbine will boost efficiency at least by 30% to 330 MW. Moreover, gas consumption will be halved.”
When the facility started work 50 years ago, Tehran was not saddled with water scarcity as it is today. But conditions have changed as the population has exploded from three million to ten million, and decommissioning decrepit plants should be a priority, he noted.
“One specific feature of the MGT-75 turbine is that not only does it run on gas, but also can use hydrogen as feedstock.”
Taking advantage of hydrogen in mega cities like Tehran is of great importance as the metropolis suffers from endless air pollution.
Best-in-Class Turbine
"MGT-75 is an industrial achievement and one of the best-in-class turbines in the world. The new turbine allows expansion of power production without the need for massive funding for new units," Aliabadi said.
Adding hydrogen to natural gas is a major step toward decarbonizing energy production as its combustion process emits less greenhouse gases including CO2 and produces more energy.
The fourth upgrade to the MGT-70 turbine has improved efficiency by 24% to 60% over the previous design. Most turbines used in Iran are from the E-class family and can be upgraded to MGT-75 with improved efficiency, the Mapna chief added.
“We can replace up to 60% of the methane used in gas turbines with hydrogen,” Aliabadi said, and added that the first hydrogen-fueled gas turbine will be installed in May.
In common with other manufacturers, Mapna has a target to offer gas turbines capable of burning 100% hydrogen and is developing special combustors to this end.
Mapna Group is a conglomerate of Iranian companies involved in development and execution of thermal and renewable power, oil and gas, railroads and other industrial projects as well as manufacturing equipment.