Supplying natural gas as feedstock to two power plants in Konarak, Sistan-Baluchestan Province, and Sarakhs, Khorasan Razavi Province, requires the Energy Ministry’s cooperation in converting flaring torches to gas-fired ones, the National Iranian Gas Company’s deputy for gas supply said.
“During negotiations between the oil and energy ministries, the latter agreed to adapt the two power plants’ flaring torches to work with natural gas, but no measure has so far been taken in this regard,” Saeed Momeni was also quoted as saying by Shana, the Oil Ministry’s news agency, on Tuesday.
According to Momeni, 81 power stations are currently using natural gas as feedstock.
On the status of a power plant in Chabahar in the southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan Province, the official noted that the Iranian Gas Engineering and Development Company is currently constructing the gas pipeline to the power station.
“However, the power plant receives compressed natural gas instead until the pipeline is complete, which is projected to take place in the middle of the next fiscal year that starts next month,” he added.
Momeni had earlier told Mehr News Agency that the gas-fired Chabahar power plant is the first in Iran to receive CNG for electricity production.
Using CNG for electricity generation is in line with plans to replace polluting feedstock, such as mazut and diesel, with cleaner and more eco-friendly fuels at power stations and refineries.
Around 80% of thermal power plants in Iran reportedly burn natural gas for electricity generation.
The official said another power plant in Zahedan, the provincial capital of Sistan-Baluchestan, is in line to receive gas following the Energy Ministry’s initiative to convert its flaring torches in four units into gas-fired kind.
Momeni said the power plant’s other four units have already been provided with natural gas, calling on the ministry to expedite measures to prepare the remaining units.
The government has instructed power plants and refineries to use gas instead of polluting feedstock such as mazut due to the abundance of gas reserves and the rise in South Pars Gas Field output, the world's largest gas field, shared between Iran and Qatar.
The field holds an estimated 14 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, or roughly 8% of the world’s reserves, and approximately 19 billion barrels of condensate in Iran's territory.
