Mazino Coal Mine in Tabas, South Khorasan Province, was launched on Tuesday to provide feedstock for Tabas Power Plant that is currently under construction.
Two million tons of coal per year will be extracted from Mazino, an open-pit mine, to be fed into Tabas Power Station that is the first coal-fired power plant in Iran and will be operational in three years, the Energy Ministry’s news website Paven reported.
Open-pit mining, also known as mega-mining, open-cast or open cut mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow.
This form of mining differs from extractive methods that require tunneling. Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially useful ore or rocks are found near the surface.
Mazino Coal Mine holds 600 million tons of in-place coal. The coal-fired power station will have a capacity of 650 megawatts. The mine has created direct employment for 500 people.
When the power plant comes on stream, it will create 1,500 direct and 5,000 indirect jobs, which will help reduce unemployment in South Khorasan and east of the country.
There is a robust consensus among environmentalists, scientists and experts that coal has a severe environmental impact.
According to reports, coal energy produces a vast amount of harmful emissions such as carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide that adversely contribute to climate change and global warming.
Nevertheless, proponents of the first coal-fired power station in the country argue that the plant’s construction makes sense because it allows Iran to diversify its sources of energy, which now largely comes from thermal plants using gas.
They also claim that the relatively low cost of power generation from coal justifies such a project.
Tabas Power Station is being constructed in Dasht-e Kavir (the Great Salt Desert) and will be equipped with advanced pollution-reduction systems in which suspended particles, produced due to the combustion of coal in the furnace, are absorbed by electrostatic filters.
Therefore, all exhaust gases will be in line with environmental standards and the plant will not contribute to air pollution.
Global Coal Demand
According to the International Energy Agency, global coal demand declined 4% in 2020, the biggest drop since World War II. The main driver of the decline was lower electricity demand owing to Covid‑19 restrictions and the resulting economic downturn.
Preferential dispatch or use of renewables in many markets squeezed gas and coal in the electricity mix. Lower gas prices saw significant fuel switching away from coal, particularly in the United States and the European Union, where coal use for power fell by 20% and 21%, respectively.
Overall, declines in the power sector accounted for over 40% of lower global demand in 2020.
The Covid‑19 pandemic also affected industrial output, notably steel and cement, further lowering coal demand.
China was the only G20 country to see a significant jump in coal production last year. It generated over 53% of the world's total coal-fired power in 2020, according to data published by the energy and climate research group Ember.
New coal-fired power installations reached 38.4 gigawatts in 2020. That's more than three times the amount built by the rest of the world.
Earlier this year, China boldly promised to reduce its coal dependence and emissions of climate-warming greenhouse gas. The country is aiming to become "carbon neutral" by 2060.
