The electricity consumption record in Iran was broken once again this year, as different sectors on Monday used close to 72,500 megawatts, the spokesperson of the electricity industry said.
“Last year, the highest demand for electricity consumption, 69,458 MW, was recorded on Aug. 25. However, that record was broken last week and since then, the nationwide consumption hit new highs two more times,” IRNA also quoted Mostafa Rajabi-Mashhadi as saying.
“Monday’s consumption of 72,485 MW is 6,000 MW more than the consumption registered during the same period of last year and 3,000 MW higher than last year's record,” he added.
The official noted that despite the high consumption, the country’s electricity network is stable and all the personnel of the electricity production, transmission and distribution sectors are doing their best to ensure a reliable electricity supply to all subscribers.
However, heavy consumers in domestic, industrial and commercial sectors face outages during the peak hours.
Since the beginning of the current Iranian year (March 21), more than 100 million megawatt hours of electricity have been generated by thermal power plants across the country. This amount of energy has played a major role in providing the power needed by subscribers during the hot days of summer when consumption peaks.
In related news, a deputy manager at Iran's Thermal Power Plants Holding Company said that by completing 730 repair projects, power plants throughout the country are fully prepared to provide the electricity needed by consumers.
“The power stations are in very good condition in terms of efficiency and fuel consumption, but the increase in air temperature and consumption poses a threat to the power infrastructure, as they will increase the risk of network accidents,” Nasser Eskandari was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
“We have not had any accidents in the power grid so far this year and we hope to maintain the stability of the electricity network in the coming weeks,” he added.
New Units
The construction of 15,000 MW of new thermal power units was planned by TPPHC two years ago, and so far 34 new units have been put into operation, the company’s managing director said.
“The competed projects include 12 steam units of combined cycle plants, which are operating with a capacity of about 2,000 MW. Their launch has resulted in saving 3 billion liters of liquid fuel consumption per year,” Abdolrasoul Pishahang added.
Thermal power plants across Iran produced 80 million megawatt/hours of electricity during the first quarter of the current Iranian year (March 21-June 21).
Thermal power stations constitute over 81% of the country's power capacity [90 gigawatts] and they have played a key role in providing sustainable electricity throughout the country during the spring.
Of the total production, more than 55% came from combined cycle units. Generating more than 44 million megawatt hours of electricity, their production was up 4% compared with the same period of last year.
The share of gas and steam units in electricity production in the three-month period was 18 million megawatt hours each.
The launch of eight new steam units in the power plants of West Karoun, Asalouyeh, Ferdowsi, Khorramabad, Sabalan, Central South Pars (Besat) and Urmia last year helped increase the generation capacity of environmentally friendly power stations.
Converting gas power plants to combined cycle ones is one of the most efficient ways to improve the efficiency of thermal stations, which is not only good for the electricity industry, but also for protecting the environment and saving fuel consumption.
A combined-cycle power plant is more eco-friendly than conventional power stations, as they emit less greenhouse gases.
Energy from a thermal plant not used for power production is released into the environment in the form of heat.
A combined-cycle power station uses both gas and steam turbines to produce up to 50% more electricity from the same fuel than a traditional simple-cycle plant. Waste heat from the gas turbine is routed to the nearby steam turbine to generate power.
Energy efficiency of a conventional thermal power station, considered salable energy produced as a percentage of the heating value of the fuel consumed, is typically 33-48%. Considering all the heat produced by gas and steam turbines, their efficiency is limited and governed by the laws of thermodynamics.
Effective steps have been taken to convert conventional plants into combined-cycle units to improve efficiency and reduce pollution and costs.
