Construction of the first coal-fired power plant in Iran has registered 70% progress, the Energy Ministry news website Paven reported.
Located near the city of Tabas in South Khorasan Province, the power station will produce 650 megawatts and feed on the nearby Mazino Coalmine which holds more than 600 million tons of in-place coal.
Supplying equipment for the new power plant is the responsibility of Iran’s MAPNA Group and China’s Shanghai Electric.
However, environmentalists have voiced strong opposition to the project, saying that burning coal will add to the worsening pollution problems and to global warming.
Iran pledged in the Paris Climate Conference in 2015 to curb greenhouses gases by 4% by 2030 and raise electricity output capacity from renewables to 7,500 MW.
There is a robust consensus among the world’s respected scientists and experts that coal has a severe environmental impact. According to reports, coal energy produces tremendous amount of harmful emissions such as carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acids that contribute generously to climate change and global warming.
Nevertheless, proponents of the plan argue that building a coal plant makes sense because “it allows Iran to diversify its sources of energy, which now largely comes from thermal plants using gas".
They also claim that the relatively low cost of power generation from coal justifies such a project.
The Tabas power station being constructed in Dasht-e Kavir (the Great Salt Desert) in central Iran and will be equipped with advanced pollution-reduction systems.
Global Coal Power
According to the UK-based website Carbon Brief, since 2000, the world has doubled its coal-fired power capacity to around 2,045 gigawatts after explosive growth in China and India. A further 200 GW is being built and 300 GW is planned.
Despite the US and Europe shuttering coal-fired power plants, coal remains a major fuel in global energy systems.
In 2018, global coal demand rebounded and grew by 1.4% due to increased consumption in Asia, where coal consumption increased by 2.5%. This increased consumption was mainly from power generation, which reached an all-time high, increasing 3% in 2018 and accounting for almost 40% of global electricity generation.
China remains the world’s largest coal consumer, using more than 50% of all the coal consumed in the world. According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, China relies on coal for 57.7% of its primary energy, and for 67% of its electricity.
India led other countries in coal consumption growth, increasing its consumption in 2018 by 36 million tons oil equivalent -- 8.7% higher than in 2017. India generated 75% of its electricity from coal in 2018.
Both countries have sizable coal reserves of more than 100 billion tons. But, both countries also import coal, together accounting for more than one-third of the world’s coal imports in 2018.
According to latest reports, planned coal-fired capacity additions from a number of countries in and around the Middle East will add 44 gigawatts of new electric generating capacity over the next decade.
Coal capacity in the region is typically less than that of other fuels, particularly compared to liquefied natural gas or petroleum-based fuels. Turkey is the heaviest user of coal-fired power among these countries with a capacity of approximately 18.5 GW, followed by Pakistan (2.5 GW). The two counties both plan to add more coal capacity over the next decade.
Egypt, Oman, Jordan and the UAE have no current coal-fired electricity generation, but they each plan to build coal-fired power plants in the near future, reports say.
