Construction of two power plants with a total production capacity of 735 megawatts of electricity commenced on Tuesday, December 2, in the Persian Gulf Special Economic Industrial and Mining Zone (PGSEZ), in Bandar Abbas.
The minister of industry, mine, and business, Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, attended the ceremony, IRNA reported.
The CEO of PGSEZ, Masoud Hendian, outlined the combined cycle Hormoz power plant project, saying €75 million and about $7 million (180 billion rials) was invested on the construction operation of the 235-megawatt power plant. The project also contains a 160-megawatt gas unit and a 75-megawatt steam unit.
Hendian named German company, Sipa Electronic GbR, and Oxine Ghadir Deutschland as foreign contractors of the project (although the latter company could not be verified).
The gas unit will go into operation from the beginning of the next Iranian calendar, March 21, 2015, with the steam unit becoming operational a year later and employ 500 people in the construction phase and 100 in operation phase.
Regarding the Hormozan (Al-Mahdi) power plant project, Hendian explained upon completion, the 500 megawatt (MW) combined cycle plant will supply electricity for the aluminum industries operating in the region. The two gas units of the power plants have a 332 megawatt capacity and the steam unit, a 160 megawatt capacity.
The project will be carried out with €250 million and 1550 billion rials (about $58 million) investment from the National Development Fund of Iran.
Gas units are to open in the second half of Iranian year 1394 (begins March 21, 2015) and the steam unit will start production in March 2016, creating 150 jobs.
Hendian mentioned the supply of clean and reliable energy for the industries of the region as the aim of the two projects and pointed to some issues facing them: "The industry needs to have all its energy sources so the production does not stop under any circumstances."
PGSEZ industries should work independently from the country's national electricity network, in order to compete in global markets, increase their production capacity, maintain quality, as well as reduce costs from electricity shortages, he asserted.
The two power plants projects have, in addition to the above, been designed to reach production capacity of 3,000 MW.
Optimum capacity of aluminum production of the Al-Mahdi Hormozal Aluminum Company is 267,000 tons which now stands at a reduced 170,000 tons, due to lack of electricity.
