The steam unit of Caspian Combined-Cycle Power Plant in northern Mazandaran Province became operational Tuesday with the help of Arian MahTaab Gostar Company, head of Iran's Thermal Power Plants Holding Company said.
“The unit adds 150 MW to the grid and runs on advanced F-Class turbines with 59% efficiency,” ISNA quoted Mohsen Tarztalab as saying Wednesday. The gas unit of the facility was synchronized with the national grid in 2018, he added.
The 460-MW combined-cycle project consists of a 310-MW gas unit, the TPPHC boss said.
Tarztalab noted that with above average efficiency the plant will help meet acceptable ecological norms. The plant is built on 8 hectares -- an area smaller than similar plants producing 460 megawatts.
Caspian Power Plant is the first single shaft F-Class power plant in Iran. Modern technology used in it will reduce gas consumption by up to 200 million cubic meters a year. Besides, “the plant will use 30% less water in comparison with its peers.”
Construction of the plant started in 2016 and cost $400 million. The senior official said, “$250 million was borrowed from the National Development Fund of Iran, the sovereign fund, and the rest was put up by Arian MahTaab Gostar Company, the project operator.”
A combined-cycle power plant uses both gas and steam turbines to produce up to 50% more electricity from the same fuel than a traditional simple-cycle plant. Waste heat from the gas turbine is routed to the nearby steam turbine to generate electricity.
The northern Mazandaran Province has over 1.8 million subscribers, of which 580,000 live in the western part where the plant is located. The plant supplies a part of the electricity demand in the west of the province in addition to compensating regional network voltage drop when needed.
"The new projects will raise national installed power generation capacity to over 84,000 MW," Tarztalab said.
A private sector pioneer in the field of power generation investment, Arian MahTaab Gostar was established in 2002 to contribute to power industry growth and help meet electricity demand by boosting investment in the sector.
TPPHC purchases the generated electricity for a specified period (minimum 10 years). After the guaranteed purchase period, the plant will be allowed to sell power through the energy bourse.
Higher Thermal Production
In related news, ISNA quoted Hamidreza Azimi, director of planning at the TPPHC, as saying that close to 1,120 MW was added to Iran’s thermal power output capacity in the last 12 months.
“Five steam units went on stream in Kermanshah, Tehran, North Khorasan, Bushehr and Mazandaran provinces at an estimated $1.5 billion in the period and should curb gas consumption as feedstock by as much as 1 billion cubic meters annually.”
Referring to the ongoing ventures, he noted that four more steam units in Heris Combined-Cycle Plant (East Azarbaijan), Jahrom Power Plant in Fars Province, Urmia Power Station (East Azarbaijan) and Chabahar Power Plant in Sistan-Baluchestan Province will come on stream by July.
Moving to steam power is part of the government policy to convert simple-cycle plants into combined-cycle units to boost efficiency.
Moreover, the second gas unit in Zarand Thermal Power Plant in the namesake county in Kerman Province and Hengam Power Plant in Bandar Abbas, in southern Hormozgan Province, are expected to come on stream.
Upon completion, the projects, costing $1.1 billion, will add at least 1,700 MW to the national grid.
