As demand for electricity keeps rising in Mazandaran Province, a new combined cycle unit is under construction at Shahid Salimi (Neka) Power Plant in the region, managing director of the plant said.
“So far nine units are up and running at the plant with 2,400 MW capacity. When the new unit joins the grid it will add 500 MW to the total capacity,” IRIB News quoted Mohsen Nemati as saying.
The plant generated over 10.5 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in the last Persian calendar year (March 2020-2021), which was 8.6% higher than the previous year.
Regarding repair and maintenance of the existing units, he said Iranian engineers are doing the job using 45,000 parts and equipment made by local companies.
Moreover, to reduce water use from depleting underground resources in Mazandaran, a desalination unit will become operational by summer.
“Construction of the desalination unit with a capacity of six million liters from the Caspian Sea has made 95% progress and will go on stream soon,” Nemati noted.
The initiative was launched in 2018 and was supposed to be completed in 2019. However, the US economic blockade against Iranian individuals and organizations made it difficult to import equipment and the venture was delayed, he added.
Located 25 km north of Neka City, the power plant is one of the largest in Iran and started work in the early 1980s.
“At least 5 million liters of water is extracted from three deep wells per day to cool the turbines,” Nemati said, and added that the wells will be sealed and Caspian Sea water will be desalinated in the plant for cooling purposes.
As per an Energy Ministry directive of 2019, it is mandatory for all 123 thermal power plants to either use reclaimed wastewater or desalinated water [instead of underground resources] for cooling the towers.
Water is being pumped from underground tables much faster than it can be naturally replenished. Underground resources are key to meeting demand for potable water and farming but unending demand is making aquifers a thing of the past.
“Due to proximity to the Caspian Sea, constructing a desalination unit is economically feasible compared to building new wastewater plants used in some power stations like Hamadan’s Shahid Mofateh Thermal Power Plant,” Nemati said.
Curbing water consumption is an undeniable compulsion, more so because for decades Iran has been in the grip of a major water crisis that was only worsened as the population grows and demand rises.
