The gas unit of Qeshm Pasargad Combined-Cycle Power Plant on Qeshm Island, Hormozgan Province, has come on stream to help stabilize power supply in the Persian Gulf’s largest island.
“An undertaking of the private sector, the project was completed in two years,” Hassan Maddahi, managing director of Qeshm Movalled Company, was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Costing around $150 million, the gas unit with a capacity of generating 320 megawatts was built with the help of domestic contractors, including Monenco Iran Consulting Engineers, a leading global provider of professional engineering and consulting services and Hirbodan, an Iranian Engineering and Construction Company.
The gas unit is equipped with an F-class turbine manufactured by Ansaldo Energia S.p.A., an Italian power engineering company.
Qeshm Movalled Firm, a subsidiary of Pasargad Energy Development Company, was established to provide electrical energy to the units being installed in the Qeshm Free Zone in Hormozgan Province. It supplies water, steam and electricity to the Qeshm refinery that is under construction near the company’s premises.
Electricity generation capacity of the 320-megawatt power plant will reach 500 MW in 2024 when its steam unit becomes operational, he added.
The steam unit is being constructed by Qeshm Movalled Company at an estimated cost of $300 million.
Ghadir Qeshm Power Plant
The construction of the steam unit of Ghadir Qeshm Power Plant on Qeshm Island is also underway and will become operational in summer.
According to the National Iranian Gas Company’s website, the steam unit will have a production capacity of 160 megawatts and when it becomes operational, the efficiency of the plant will rise from the current 33% to 49%.
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.
The first gas unit of the plant was launched last September and the second gas unit came on stream two months later. With a capacity of 175 MW each, the two units can jointly produce 350 MW of electricity.
Each gas unit uses 45,000 cubic meters of gas per hour and so far, the power plant has generated over 1 million megawatt hours of electricity.
With the launch of the steam unit in the summer of 2022, the total electricity generation capacity of the power station will reach 510 MW.
Built over 73 hectares, the plant is the fruit of collaboration between Ghadir Investment Company and the industrial giant MAPNA. It is estimated to cost $360 million.
MAPNA is a group of companies involved in a range of projects, including the construction of thermal and renewable power plants, oil and gas field development, onshore and offshore drilling services, as well as the design and manufacture of equipment such as turbo-compressors for refineries and processing units.
Established in 1992 as a public joint stock company, Ghadir Investment Company operates in power, oil, gas, petrochemical and related industries.
Due to Hormozgan’s proximity to the Sea of Oman and Persian Gulf, the province is also active in fisheries, boat and shipbuilding, as well as oil and gas industries.
Hormozgan has abundant mineral resources and its chromite, red soil, lime, gypsum, sulfur and salt mines are well known.
