Foreign companies have signed contracts to invest in small power production projects in Mazandaran Province, managing director of Mazandaran Regional Electricity Company said.
Hossein Afzali referred to investors from Canada, Germany, South Korea, China and Malaysia that will finance construction of distributed generations (DGs) power production, IRNA reported.
“Land in Babol and Amol counties has been allocated to Canadian firms to build four 25 MW plants,” Afzali said without naming the foreign companies or details of the contracts.
Small-scale electricity generation is gradually replacing big fossil-fuel driven power plants that are said to be the world's single largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.
As the micro-electricity producers are relatively small, inexpensive, and most importantly produce negligible carbon emissions, domestic and foreign investors are showing more interest in financing such ventures.
Distributed generation refers to electricity produced in small quantities close to end users, as alternative or supplement to traditional centralized grid-connected power. It reduces the cost and complexity associated with transmission and distribution, while offsetting peak electricity demand and stabilizing the local grid.
Currently, small-scale generators produce only 143 MW of the total 15,000 MW electricity capacity in the northern Mazandaran region.
The increase in temperature in recent years has led to higher power consumption especially during the hot summers when large numbers of tourists from across Iran and neighboring countries flock to the holiday resorts near the Caspian Sea. “We face a shortage of electricity in the peak summer months,” Afzali said.
The Energy Ministry has plans to set up 40 generators, each with 25MW capacity in the northern provinces by 2024 to generate 1,000 megawatts.
A 25MW power station requires less than 3,000 square meters of land and costs $3.3 million, the state news agency quoted the official as saying.
**** Harnessing Renewables
In line with efforts to draw on the potential in harnessing renewables, 55 zones have been identified in Mazandaran Province for developing solar power, the managing director of Power Distribution Company of Mazandaran Province said.
According to Qasem Shahabi, plans are underway to build four solar plants in the province in the near future.
Referring to the vast potential of the province for harnessing green energy, he said there are currently three functioning solar farms in Mazandaran – a number that must increase because renovation of the region's traditional power grid would be too costly.
"Almost 25% of the province's power grid is dilapidated," he said, adding that Mazandaran's power consumption in the summer months (peak of the holiday season) is three times over and above other provinces.
Shahabi believes that renewables will help meet the region's demand for sustainable power and high reliability. "Renewable power systems have advantages like generating power at the place of consumption, less network wastage and less pollution.”
