Thermal Power Plants Holding Company has started converting seven single-cycle power plants into combined-cycles after it received the green light of the government’s Economic Council, deputy for engineering and technical affairs at TPPHC said.
“All the seven gas-powered stations are operated by the private sector and the conversion plan is projected to cost $2.5 billion,” Abbas Jalali Farahani was also quoted as saying by Barq News.
Giving a breakdown on the venture, he added that the total volume of generation of these plants, namely the Soltaniyeh Power Plant in Zanjan, Zagros Power Station in the western Kermanshah Province, Persian Gulf Power Plant in Hormozgan Province, Golestan and Semnan power plants in the namesake provinces, Khorramshahr facility in Khuzestan and Shahid Kaveh Power Plant in Khorasan Razavi Province, is less than 5,000 megawatts that will reach 7,500 MW after conversion.
“Aimed at enhancing power production capacity and helping to further stabilize the national power grid, the initiative will be undertaken in four years with the help of domestic engineers and locally-manufactured equipment,” he said.
Farahani noted that the project will boost the stations’ efficiency by at least 15% to reach 45%.
“An added advantage of the plan is that natural gas consumption in the upgraded facilities will reduce by 4 billion cubic meters per year,” he said.
According to the official, combined-cycle power plants currently account for 33,000 MW of Iran’s total electricity generation capacity at 86 gigawatts, but when the scheme is carried out, the figure will rise to 40%.
The average efficiency of thermal power plants has reached 38% compared to the global average of 37%.
“Thermal plants account for 80% of Iran’s total power generation [86,000 MW],” he said, adding that steam- and gas-powered constitute 20 gigawatts and 33 GW of the thermal units, respectively.
In a thermal power station, heat is converted to electric power. Energy from a thermal power plant not utilized in power production must be released into the environment in the form of heat. This wasted heat can go through a condenser and be disposed with cooling water or in cooling towers.
A combined-cycle power plant produces up to 50% more electricity from the same fuel than a traditional simple-cycle plant. The waste heat from the gas turbine is routed to a nearby steam turbine, generating extra power.
Installed Capacity
With an installed capacity of 86 GW, Iran ranks ninth in global thermal power capacity. Close to 21 GW of the output come from facilities that were built more than three decades ago and should be either phased out or renovated.
The estimated useful life of an electricity plant is 20 years.
According to Abbas Aliabadi, the head of MAPNA Group, the conversion of all single-cycle power plants into combined cycles can help save 11 billion cubic meters of natural gas per annum and curb the emission of greenhouse gases.
There are 478 thermal power plants in Iran, of which 117 are single cycle and can be converted into combined cycle via steam turbines.
"Several gas-powered plants, including Parand in southern Tehran, have been converted. Others, namely Tous in Khorasan Razavi, Sabalan in Ardabil, Kashan in Isfahan and Asalouyeh gas-powered plants, are being converted," he said.
MAPNA is capable of manufacturing and installing steam turbines to change single-cycle into eco-friendly combined ones in five years, if the government is committed to its financial pledges, the CEO said.
Aliabadi noted that MAPNA has built combined-cycle plants with a production capacity of 20,000 MW, one of which is the Damavand Power Plant in southeast Tehran.
MAPNA is a leading contractor in the electricity, oil, gas and transportation sectors, and the largest manufacturer of power plants’ equipment in the Middle East and West Asia. It is a leader in implementing power plant projects.
The tech giant recently unveiled its new C-class MGT-40 turbine, which has high safety standards that will be sold to power stations plus oil, gas and petrochemical plants.
Iran’s electricity consumption reached 67,318 megawatts on July 2, while the highest amount of consumption last year, 67,012 MW, was set in August when the temperature was higher.
Iran has experienced electricity supply and demand imbalances over the past three years, mainly because of a surge in energy-intensive cryptocurrency mining and natural gas consumption in manufacturing and household sectors, which has caused power plants to operate at lower capacity.
Low rainfall is also contributing to the power imbalance, as less electricity is generated by hydroelectric power plants.
