To help stabilize power supply in Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan Province, Karoun’s 132/33-kilovolt gas-insulated substation is ready to be synchronized with the national power grid, the head of provincial power company said.
“Costing $15 million, the new installations will prevent industrial towns in and around Ahvaz from the adverse impact of voltage fluctuations in the hot summer days when electricity consumption peaks in the region,” Mahmoud Dashtbozorg was also quoted as saying by ISNA.
GIS is equipped with a 50-megavolt-ampere transformer, which will improve the stability of power transmission in the local grid, he added.
The facility has already passed all the tests successfully and will be linked to the national network soon.
According to the official, a similar project is underway in the same region, which has made 80% progress and is expected to become operational in June.
Khuzestan Regional Electric Company is responsible for supplying electricity to the southwestern Khuzestan Province as well as its eastern neighbor Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad.
"GIS systems cost twice as much as regular substations, but play a key role in reducing power cuts in sandstorm regions,” he said.
Three 132-kilovolt substations cost $35 million have already become operational in the area.
A GIS uses dielectric gas and sulfur hexaflouride at moderate pressure for insulation and is mostly used where space is expensive or not available.
Dashtbozorg said the facilities were purchased from ABB, a Swedish-Swiss multinational corporation headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2017.
“The power grid in the region will be equipped with nine more GIS systems that are expected to cost $105 million,” he said.
Dust Storms
Rebuilding infrastructure, namely substations and power transmission equipment, battered by dust storms, is expensive.
Dust storms have become a near permanent feature of the southern regions over the past several years, knocking out electricity grids in several cities in Khuzestan where the mercury crosses 50 degrees Celsius in summer.
Dashtbozorg noted that in 2015, the sandstorm was so strong that the entire power network was hit and oil output decreased by 700,000 barrels on some days.
The province accounts for 70% of the country's crude oil production. As the world’s population swells, the need for power is increasing rapidly.
According to the International Energy Agency, global energy demand will grow by 30% between now and 2040, with electricity consumption accounting for 40% of the total increase.
But continued reliability of this flow of electricity into businesses and homes depends on the stability of the system supporting it. This includes all links in the electrical power train—circuit breakers, wiring and transformers.
According to Hossein Ali Taziki, managing director of Shahid Salimi (Neka) Power Plant in Mazandaran Province, local engineers have repaired 20 piston pumps used in the power station for the first time in Iran.
Piston Pumps
Piston pumps are another common type of pump used in the power sector. These pumps use a piston to draw fluid into a chamber and then push it out again. Pump solution providers customize the piston pumps to use them to move both liquids and gases, making them versatile for various applications.
Taziki said replacing the old pumps with new machines would have cost the plant at least $1 million, which now can be saved and invested in other development projects in the station.
“As demand for electricity keeps rising in Mazandaran Province, a new combined cycle unit is under construction at the power plant,” he added, noting that the plant generated over 10.5 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in the last Iranian year (March 2021-22), which was 8.6% higher than the previous year.
Regarding repair and maintenance of the existing units, he said Iranian engineers are doing the job using 45,000 parts and equipment made by local companies.
Moreover, to reduce the depletion of underground resources in Mazandaran, a desalination unit will become operational by summer.
“The construction of the desalination unit with a capacity of 6 million liters from the Caspian Sea has made 95% progress and will go on stream soon,” he said.
The initiative was launched in 2018 and was supposed to be completed in 2019. However, the US economic blockade against Iranian individuals and organizations made it difficult to import equipment and the venture was delayed.
Located 25 km north of Neka City, the power plant is one of the largest in Iran, which became operational in the early 1980s.
