More than 500 industrial units in Yazd Province were connected to the natural gas network last year (March 2022-23), the managing director of Yazd Gas Company said.
“Last year, gas was supplied to 529 industrial units, including 125 major industries and 404 minor units,” the Oil Ministry’s news service Shana also quoted Saeed Aqli as saying.
The official added that 92 greenhouses were linked to the gas grid last year and the number of gas-supplied greenhouses in the province has reached 3,451.
“The most important advantages of using natural gas in greenhouse farming include the fuel’s reasonable price, convenient access, ability to increase the quality and reduce the price of products and higher profitability,” he said.
An estimated 420,000 tons of agricultural produce from greenhouses are exported from Yazd Province every year.
Russia, Iraq and the Persian Gulf littoral states are the main destinations of agricultural products grown in the provincial greenhouses.
A range of products, including cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants and medicinal plants, are cultivated in 1,550 hectares of greenhouses in Yazd.
Yazd has a hot desert climate. It is the driest major city in Iran, with a yearly precipitation of barely 49 millimeters and only 23 days of rainfall, which is also the hottest city north of the Persian Gulf coast, with summer temperatures frequently above 40°C in blazing sunshine with no humidity.
Aqli noted that currently, a total of 9,232 industrial units in the central province are supplied with gas.
“Natural gas as a vital infrastructure has contributed greatly to the production of the industrial sector and subsequently to the prosperity and development of the province,” he said.
The gas grid in Yazd stretches over 2,000 kilometers and serves around 490,000 consumers.
Yazd is one of Iran's well-known hubs for producing textiles, ceramic tiles and construction material.
Kurdestan Industries
Shana reported the managing director of Kurdestan Gas Company as saying that last year, 189 production and industrial units were connected to the national natural gas network in the province.
“These industrial units used to consume 3.228 million liters of liquid fuel annually. Having been linked to the gas grid, they can do without burning eco-unfriendly liquid fuel,” Ahmad Felehgari added.
The official noted that to complete these projects, a total of 122 km of transmission lines have been laid.
The official referred to the supply of gas to the production and industrial units of the western province as a sign of economic development and prosperity.
“So far, 2,444 large and small industrial units, the combined cycle power plant in Sanandaj, the Marivan CHP power plant and 19 industrial towns have been provided with natural gas,” he said.
Projects are underway to supply gas to more industrial units by the end of the current Iranian year (March 2024), he stressed.
The total length of the grid in the province of 1.6 million people now is around 12,000 kilometers that supply gas to 31 cities and about 1,200 rural areas.
All urban population and 96% of rural regions in Kurdestan are linked to the natural gas grid.
With the completion of gas supply projects to 145 villages in the western province, 98% of the rural population will have access to piped gas.
Until recently, cities like Baneh, Marivan and Saqqez did not have enough gas because of technical constraint. However, the expansion of the grid has solved the low gas pressure problems caused by extreme weather in the cold seasons.
