To help cut natural gas consumption as feedstock in power stations and fight the menace of air pollution, the efficiency of thermal power plants has been boosted by 3% over the last three years to reach 40%, the power industry’s spokesman said.
“The improvement has reduced annual gas use in power plants by at least 3 billion cubic meters,” Mostafa Rajabi-Mashhadi was also quoted as saying by Bargh News website.
As efficiency increases, less natural gas is used in the power stations, he added.
“An estimated 50 billion cubic meters of gas are consumed annually in Iran’s 129 thermal power plants that produce close to 300 billion kilowatt hours of electricity,” he said, stressing that a 1% rise in efficiency helps cut gas use by 1 bcm per year.
According to a report by Majlis Research Center, 1% increase in the country's thermal power plant efficiency will save enough money to build a 600-MW power plant.
The construction of three F-class gas turbines with 58% efficiency will be completed in Tehran in the current fiscal year (started March 21) and raise the average efficiency of power plants to 42%.
The modern turbines consume less gas and are environmentally-friendly.
Electricity generation in a simple- and combined-cycle power plant rises to 40% and 59%, respectively, with the help of F-class turbines manufactured by MAPNA Group – Iran's engineering and energy giant.
The energy efficiency of a conventional thermal power station is typically 37%. Combined-cycle systems have higher levels (around 55%).
A combined-cycle power plant uses both gas and steam turbines to produce up to 55% more electricity from the same fuel than a traditional simple cycle plant. The waste heat from the gas turbine is sent to nearby steam turbines to generate electricity.
The government has said it wants to phase out inefficient power plants, improve aging electricity infrastructure and improve access to advanced power production technology.
"Under regulations outlined by the Energy Ministry, all new power plants must have efficiency rates of 50% and above," Rajabi-Mashhadi said.
Installed Capacity
Iran has an installed capacity of 90,000 MW.
Thermal units either use steam, gas-powered or combined-cycle turbines and account for 73,000 MW of the total electricity output.
According to Mohammad Ramezani, deputy for projects development at the Thermal Power Plants Holding Company, the capacity of Iran's thermal power plants has risen by 3,500 megawatts over the last 12 months.
“Linking up 17 gas and steam units with the national grid has helped boost output capacity in thermal power stations to over 72,900 MW,” he said.
The steam units in Jahrom, Haris and Urmia power stations in East and West Azarbaijan provinces, Chabahar Power Plant in Sistan-Baluchestan Province and Besat Power Station in Asalouyeh in Bushehr Province have added 1,500 MW to Iran’s thermal power generation capacity, he added.
The gas units of Hengam Power Plant in Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan Province, Pasargad Power Station on Qeshm Island and Mianroud in Dezful, Khuzestan Province, Aryan Power Plant in Zanjan Province, Mahtab Kavir Power Plant in Zarand, Kerman Province, and Iran LNG Power Plant in Kangan, Bushehr Province, have become operational in a year to add 2,000 MW to the network.
Ramezani said a total of 598 steam and gas units are operational in 129 thermal power plants.
“Despite the rise in production capacity, the power network is still suffering from a deficit of at least 10,000 MW,” he said.
The official noted that 70% of the total capacity of domestic thermal power plants are owned by the private sector.
Total electricity generation capacity in Iran has surpassed 89,000 MW and another 6,000 MW planned by the Energy Ministry will be added to the current capacity in the fall.
Iran has experienced electricity supply and demand imbalances over the past three years mainly because of a surge in energy-intensive cryptocurrency mining and a heavier use of natural gas in manufacturing and household sectors, which has caused power plants to operate at a lower capacity.
To help further stabilize the grid, TPPHC has started converting seven single-cycle power plants into combined-cycles after it received the green light of the government’s Economic Council in June.
