The first phase of Iran’s second largest wind farm, with 50 MW power generation capacity, was launched on Monday in Aqkand village, East Azerbaijan Province.
The plant has 20 modern turbines of 2.5 MW with a permanent magnet direct-drive system, of which 12 are linked to the national grid, the state-owned Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Organization's (Satba) news portal reported.
The rest will be synchronized with the network by March.
Construction of the €70 million farm was undertaken by Iran's top engineering and energy enterprise MAPNA Group.
Such projects are normally financed by the National Development Fund of Iran – the sovereign-wealth fund.
When fully operational the Aqkand wind farm will generate 175,000 megawatt hours of electricity a year that is enough to power 104,000 households in the deprived region.
"The plant is slated to help reduce greenhouse gas emission by up to 119,200 tons a year," Satba said, adding that it will also help reduce the use of 49 million cubic meters of gas and 38,000 cubic meters of water per annum.
Energy Minster Reza Ardakanian says Iran is taking strong and stable steps to augment electrical power output through renewables.
The country's largest wind farm, with a capacity of 61.2 MW, was launched in Siyahpoosh region in Qazvin Province in the middle of last year. Built over 17 hectares, the power plant is equipped with 18 modern turbines of 3.4 MW with direct-drive systems made by the German industrial giant Siemens.
According to Energy Minster Reza Ardakanian, Iran is taking steps toward boosting electrical power through renewables. The country has acquired technical knowledge and capacity to manufacture almost all the equipment required for utilizing wind power.
The number of private companies generating power from renewable sources — mainly wind and solar — has soared from three to over 500 in the past five years.
MAPNA is planning to build a 50 MW wind farm in Mil-e-Nader zone in southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan Province, which is famous for winds with speeds exceeding 120km/hour.
