Construction of the Sarbisheh Wind Power Plant in Doreh rural district in South Khorasan Province is to be completed by fall, head of the renewable energy department of the provincial power company said.
“Work is 50% complete and of the total 20 wind turbines 10 have been installed and the rest have arrived or are being transported to the site,” Mohammad Ali Zamen was quoted as saying by IRNA.
The 50-megawatt wind farm being built by Mapna, Iran's top engineering and energy enterprise, will have 20 turbines of 2.5 MW each and a permanent magnet direct-drive system. It is being built over 22 hectares and is estimated to cost $100 million.
“Not only will the plant help stabilize power supply in the underprivileged region but also contribute to economic upliftment of the people in the area.”
If all goes well more power will be exported to neighboring Afghanistan. Iran sells 200,000 kilowatt hours of power to Afghanistan a day.
Referring to domestically-made parts and equipment (under license of Germany’s Siemens group), Zamen said each turbine tower is 85 meters high. The length of each blade is 50 meters and weighs 11 tons.
The nacelle, which contains the generator component, weighs 90 tons. Smart turbines rotate at a speed of 11 revolutions per second. They rotate at a minimum speed of 3.5 rps and stop automatically when wind speed reaches 25 rps.
Mapna is a group of companies involved in the development and execution of thermal and renewable power plants, oil & gas, railway transport and other industrial projects.
The company has built two wind farms in Aqkand village, East Azerbaijan Province (2019) and in Siyahpoosh region in Qazvin Province (2018) and another farm is under construction in Mil-e-Nader Wind Farm zone in Zabol, Sistan-Baluchestan Province.
Harnessing wind energy will help reduce dependence on fossil fuels as it cuts electricity generation from thermal power plants using natural gas and other fossil fuels (mazut), he said.
“Wind energy does not produce waste or contaminate water – a major issue given the water crisis in the country.”
The official said unlike fossil fuels and nuclear power plants, wind energy has one of the lowest water-consumption footprints, which makes it a key for conserving hydrological resources, which are depleting rapidly in Iran.
Wind power is among the most efficient technology to produce electricity in a safe and environmentally-sustainable way: it is zero emission, local, inexhaustible, competitive, and creates jobs.
More than 200 wind turbines are in operation in Gilan, Khorasan Razavi, East Azarbaijan and Qazvin provinces.
