Replacing old simple-cycle power stations with combined-cycle facilities will double the units’ efficiency by at least 25%, director for technical support at the Thermal Power Plants Holding Company said.
"Dilapidated power stations use 3 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 500 million liters of diesel annually and raising their efficiency will reduce their feedstock considerably," Gholamreza Mehrdad was also quoted as saying by Barq News website.
In view of the current global gas and diesel prices ($4 per cubic meters and $1.5 per liter respectively), the renovation of old plants can help generate at least $500 million in revenues per year.
“About 15% of Iran’s electricity are generated by decrepit power plants built more than 30 years ago,” he added.
According to the official, one-fifth of the aging thermal power stations are between 35 and 40 years old.
Based on international standards, the average useful life of such plants is 25 years.
Iran's thermal power plant capacity stands at 89,633 megawatts, of which 13,500 MW are produced in ramshackle plants that are nearing retirement age.
Mehrdad said close to 10,000 MW come from 30 year-old facilities and 3,500 MW from power stations over 40 years old.
“Even if such units are regularly overhauled or reconditioned, they won't operate efficiently, and that's why old facilities should be decommissioned gradually. Retiring the Zarand Power Plant in Kerman Province along with the Rey Power Plant in southern Tehran is on the agenda," he said.
Based on the Energy Ministry data released in 2014, 85% of the plants are thermal, of which 36.3% are gas-fueled with an efficiency of 31.2% and 21.4% run on steam with an efficiency of 35.7% and 25% are combined-cycle plants with an efficiency of 46.1% that use both gas and steam turbines.
Higher Priority
Experts say that converting steam-electric power stations as well as gas-fueled units to combined-cycle plants should be given higher priority in plans to rehabilitate power infrastructure.
According to a report by the Majlis Research Center, a 1% increase in the country's thermal power plant efficiency will save enough money to build a 600-MW power plant.
Based on the same report, the Energy Ministry has boosted the efficiency of thermal power plants by 1% over the past four years, which resulted in saving 6.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas as feedstock in 2017 alone.
Enhancing the efficiency of power plants will not only have a profound effect on electricity generation but also save invaluable natural resources.
According to Mohammad Ramezani, deputy for projects development at TPPHC, total electricity generation capacity in Iran has surpassed 89,000 MW and an additional 6,000 MW planned by the Energy Ministry will be added to the current capacity by July 2023.
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 have caused power plants to operate at a lower capacity.
To further help 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 last June.
The official said steam units in six gas-powered stations operated by the private sector will be converted at an estimated cost of $2.5 billion.
Giving a breakdown on the venture, Ramezani said the total volume of power generation of these plants, namely the Soltaniyeh Power Plant in Zanjan, Zagros Power Station in the western Kermanshah Province, Persian Gulf Power Plant in Hormozgan Province, Golestan and Semnan power plants in the namesake provinces, Khorramshahr facility in Khuzestan and Shahid Kaveh Power Plant in Khorasan Razavi Province, is below 5,000 MW but will reach 7,500 MW after conversion.
