Executive operations for the construction of Borujerd Combined-Cycle Power Plant has started in the namesake county, Lorestan Province, the head the Thermal Power Plant Holding Company said.
“The plant, which will have a generation capacity of 200 megawatts, will be built with an investment of $120 million financed by the private sector,” Mehr News Agency also quoted Abdolrasoul Pishahang as saying.
During the construction process, 1,500 direct and indirect jobs will be created, he added.
The gas and steam units of the power station will be manufactured by MAPNA Group, which is a conglomerate of Iranian companies involved in the development and execution of thermal and renewable power, oil and gas, railroads and other industrial projects, as well as manufacturing equipment.
According to the official, all power plant equipment are manufactured domestically.
“Last year, 100,000 power plant parts were built in the country by knowledge-based companies. In addition to meeting domestic needs, these parts are also exported to neighboring nations as well as other Asian countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia,” Pishahang said.
“In the past 20 months, 34 units of thermal power plants have been connected to the country's electricity grid. Among the new projects, there are 12 steam units in the combined-cycle power plants, which operate without additional fuel consumption. These units help save 3 billion cubic meters of gas throughout the year.”
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. The waste heat from the gas turbine is routed to the nearby steam turbine, which generates additional electricity.
Referring to power generation in Lorestan Province, the official said, “The western province already has an electricity production capacity of 450 megawatts. According to programs, another 550 MW will be added to the current capacity.”
Medium-Scale Plant
One of the projects is the construction of a 42-megawatt medium-scale power plant in Doroud County.
Costing $28 million, the project will help increase power output in the region with higher efficiency and less pollution compared to large-scale power stations in one of the less developed regions of the country.
Generating employment, utilizing the capabilities of local contractors, equipment manufacturers and consultants, helping increase the stability of network and indigenizing medium-scale gas power plant equipment are among other goals of this project.
The facility will replace one of the old units of Doroud Thermal Power Plant in Lorestan.
Doroud County has a population of about 175,000 people in over 50,000 households. The industrial region boasts defense industries, food industries, a cement plant and a sugar factory. The county also has many stone quarries that feed stone and cement factories.
Based on studies conducted on the country's electricity network, the use of medium-scale units has been placed on the agenda of the Thermal Power Plant Holding Company.
TPPHC, a subsidiary of the Energy Ministry, oversees dozens of fossil fuel power plants with an installed capacity of over 65,000 MW – the bulk of Iran's electricity demand.
Thermal plants account for over 80% of total power output (90 gigawatts) in the country.
Iran has been investing heavily in its energy sector in recent years to increase its electricity generation capacity, as it has been facing challenges in meeting the growing demand for electricity due to population growth and low efficiency of some old power plants that have been in use for over 50 years.
