Gas consumed in Iran’s power plants, which reached 57.29 billion cubic meters in the last Iranian year (ended March 19), has set a record.
Based on a report issued by Energy Ministry, state-owned and private power plants plus large-scale industries used 57.29 billion cubic meters of gas last year, which is 7.12 billion cubic meters (14.2%) more than the year before, Shana reported.
However, diesel consumption in the power plants witnessed a 25.3% decline (6.62 billion liters) in the period.
Likewise, mazut consumption was reduced by 29.5% last year, which reached 7.23 billion liters.
Nasser Ebrahimi, gas distribution manager at National Iranian gas Company, said on Tuesday the company's gas supply to power plants averaged 158.4 million cubic meters daily average in the last year, which was 137 mcm in the previous year.
The official stressed that the rise in gas supplies to the power plants helps preserve the environment, which is one of NIGC’s priorities.
With an estimated 33 trillion cubic meters of gas reserves, Iran holds the world's second-largest gas reserves after Russia.
Ebrahimi noted that the gas delivered to domestic, commercial and small-scale industries amounted to 90 billion cubic meters last year, which shows a drop of 3% compared to the previous year in spite of the rise in the number of gas subscribers.
"These sectors consumed an average of 247.3 million cubic meters a day," he said.
“The gas delivered to major industries reached 32.98 billion cubic meters last year, indicating a 1.5% increase compared to the previous year,” he said.
In line with the plans of NIGC and Oil Ministry, based on which the volume of liquefied fuel consumed in industrial units should be curbed, the volume of gas delivered to Iranian power plants rose from 35 bcm in 2013-14 to 50 bcm in 2014-15, saving over $6 billion.
The Oil Ministry plans to further raise the volume by 64 billion cubic meters in the current year which, if fulfilled, will mark the lowest share of liquefied fuel used by power plants in decades.
“For the first time in the past 35 years, the share of gas in thermal power plants reached 85% and the remaining 15% accounted for liquefied fuel, which is a big success for the power industry,” Houshang Falahatian, deputy energy minister, said earlier.
The official added that thermal power plants’ efficiency has increased by 1.4% to reach 37.7% in the past year, while the average efficiency of Iran’s power plants saw a 1.2% rise and reached 40.1%.
According to Energy Ministry's deputy for planning and economic affairs, Alireza Daemi, currently 115 power plants supply electricity to domestic, industrial, commercial and agriculture sectors nationwide and 51% of the power plants are owned by the private sector.
Iran’s electricity industry ranks 14th in the world and first in the Middle East in terms of electricity generation with an installed power generation capacity of 74,000 megawatts.
