Iran plans to increase power production capacity from combined-cycle power plants by 8,000 megawatts in the foreseeable future to reduce dependence on hydrocarbon resources and curb pollution, a deputy energy minister said.
"About 10% of the country's total power output come from hydroelectric plants and plans call for extracting more electricity from clean resources," Alireza Daemi was quoted as saying by Shana on Tuesday. Combined-cycle plants consume an equivalent of roughly one-20th the energy needed by conventional plants. A combined-cycle plant uses both gas and steam turbines to produce up to 50% more electricity from the same fuel than a traditional simple-cycle plant.
Buying electricity from combined-cycle units at higher prices compared to fossil-fueled electricity and offering loans to expand clean energy infrastructure are among the ministry's incentives to increase Iran's clean power production capacity.
"The ministry is also pursuing plans to convert waste to energy in cities with a population of more than 200,000," Daemi said, adding that the project will be funded by private investors and the ministry will only act as a facilitator.
Having around 50 waste-to-energy plants, China is the one of the leading countries in generating energy from the incineration of waste. One-third of the country's natural gas is consumed by power plants and 90-92% of electricity is generated from fossil fuels.
Iran’s electricity industry ranks 14th in the world and first in the Middle East in terms of electricity generation with an installed capacity of 74,000 MW. According to plans, Iran needs to generate 5,000 MW of renewable energies by the end of the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2011-16).
