Ten electricity projects with an investment of $33.3 million are underway in Gilan Province, managing director of Gilan Regional Power Company said.
“The projects are expected to be completed by next summer,” Bahman Darabzadeh added, noting that ensuring stable electricity supply for consumers is the main priority of the company, Mehr News Agency reported.
Referring to the southern regions of the province as suitable sites for setting up solar farms, the official said two solar power stations will be constructed in Rudbar County with an investment of $13 million, each with a capacity of 10 megawatts.
Darabzadeh noted that the equipment required for solar farms has been purchased and their construction will start soon.
Currently, there are 12 power stations in the northern province, two of which are combined-cycle (Paresar in Rezvanshahr County and Rasht in Gilan) and five are hydroelectric (Talesh, Bijar, Tarik, Sefidroud and Loshan).
In addition, three are small-scale power plants with distributed generation systems (Gil and Caspian) and a combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Bandar Anzali Free Trade Zone.
Manjil Wind Farm is the first and largest wind power plant in Iran and has a nominal capacity of 92.2 MW, he added.
Generating electricity without consuming water is vital for conserving hydrological resources that are depleting rapidly in Iran.
The official noted that the main advantages of the wind power station are zero water use and absence of greenhouse gas emission during electricity production.
The wind farm in northern Iran has 171 wind turbines.
Manjil has taken precedence over other regions, as it produced more than 90,000 megawatt-hours of electricity in 2021.
Harnessing wind energy, the government says, will help reduce dependence on fossil fuels as it cuts electricity generation from thermal power plants using natural gas and other fossil fuels (mazut).
Wind energy does not produce waste or contaminate water – a major issue given the water crisis in the country. Unlike fossil fuels and nuclear power plants, wind energy has one of the lowest water-consumption footprints.
Wind power is among the most efficient technology to harvest electricity in a safe and environmentally-sustainable way: it is zero emission, local and exists in abundance.
Gilan lies along the Caspian Sea in northern Iran and gets the highest annual rainfall – 4.5 times above the national and 1.2 times above the global average. This has helped the growth of lush greenery and dense forests that give the province a unique status and biodiversity. The region is visited by millions of tourists every year.
