The first phase of a 25-megawatt wind farm in Khaf County in Khorasan Razavi Province is to be completed by the private sector in summer, spokesman of Iran's Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Organization (Satba) said.
“Located about 300 kilometers southeast of Mashhad, the installation of 10 turbines each with a capacity of 2.5 MW of power is complete and the wind power plant will be synchronized with the national grid soon,” Jafar Mohammad-Nejad Sigaroudi was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
An undertaking of the private sector (Saba Power and Energy Group), the farm is expected to extend further by the yearend, he added.
Sigaroudi said not only will the plant help stabilize power supply in the underprivileged region, but also contribute to the economic upliftment of people in the region.
Referring to the Sarbisheh Wind Power Plant in Doreh rural district in the same province, the spokesman noted that more turbines are being hauled to the site to wrap up the construction.
“Of the total 20 wind turbines, 10 have been installed and the rest have either arrived or are being moved to the site,” he added.
The 50-megawatt wind farm, being built by MAPNA, Iran's top engineering and energy enterprise, will have 20 modern turbines of 2.5 MW each and a permanent magnet direct-drive system.
The plant, being built over 22 hectares, is estimated to cost $82 million and come on stream in 2021.
Sigaroudi noted that a 50-megawatt wind farm in Sistan-Baluchestan Province will come on stream in autumn.
"With a 400-kV transmission line, the first large-scale wind farm in the southeastern province will be launched by September,” he added.
A 25-kilometer transmission line will connect turbines of the wind farm to the national grid.
Mil-e-Nader Village
Located in the Mil-e-Nader Village in Zabol City, the farm will have 20 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 2.5 MW, manufactured by MAPNA.
Zabol has huge potentials for producing impressive volumes of wind power. The city is near the Afghan border and if electricity output increases in the region, the neighbor would receive higher volumes of electricity from Iran.
Northern areas of the underdeveloped Sistan-Baluchestan Province are suitable for large wind farms.
Despite the advantages, there is only one small-scale wind turbine in the region and most of the province's electricity comes from other provinces.
Iran is taking steps toward boosting electrical power through renewables.
The nation has acquired technical knowhow and capacity to manufacture almost all the equipment needed for producing wind power.
“The use of 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,” 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.
Substantial Benefits
According to the Satba official, a complete shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy will not happen overnight, but the need is growing exponentially as renewables can effectively substitute fossil fuels and offer substantial environmental and economic benefits.
Decommissioning a 1,000-megawatt thermal power plant and replacing it with a 1 gigawatt solar or wind power station can help curb natural gas consumption by as much as 1.5 billion cubic meters per year.
Iran’s yearly gas consumption is about 280 million cubic meters, so the amount of natural gas saved by building each solar or wind power plant with a 1,000-MW capacity equals the volume of gas expected to be burnt in the country in five years, he added.
Moreover, a 1,000-MW renewable plant can curtail 3.7 million tons of greenhouse gas emission annually.
Referring to other benefits of renewable plants, Sigaroudi noted that the construction of a 1,000-MW solar or wind plant requires $600 million while building a thermal power station with the same capacity will cost at least $2 billion.
Renewable plants are built and synchronized with the national grid in less than a year, while the minimum time needed to build a thermal power station is three years.
According to the official, the generation of each kilowatt of power in a thermal plant costs 10 cents and the same amount of electricity can be produced in a solar or wind power plant for less than 7 cents.
Mohammad-Nejad said the construction of a 1-gigawatt solar or wind power station can also save 2.8 million cubic meters of water in a year.
