Shahid Rajaee Power Plant Reduces Pollution, Costs

EghtesadOnline: In the first quarter of the current fiscal year (March 21-June 21), 93% of the fuel supplied to Shahid Rajaee Combined-Cycle Power Plant in Qazvin Province constituted natural gas, up from 88% last year, the managing director of the plant said.

News ID: ۷۴۷۷۹۱

07 July 2019

“It consumed 2.6 billion cubic meters of gas, 230 million liters of diesel and 170 million liters of mazut,” Mehr News Agency also quoted Ali Farhour as saying.

“This year, diesel and mazut consumption declined to 7% and hazardous emissions have been minimized,” he added.

Last year, the plant’s diesel and mazut consumption amounted to 12% of the total fuel volume, Financial Tribune reported.

Located 25 km from Qazvin, the gas-powered plant has a total capacity of 2,040 megawatts, which can generate 13,100 million kilowatt hours of electricity per annum.

Currently, the plant produces 12 billion kWh per year while the power consumption in the province, with a population of around 1.3 million, is 4.5 billion kWh.

Therefore, the extra electricity generated in the plant is supplied to neighboring provinces, covering a total of four million people.

Farhour said by producing the needed parts and renovating different sections of the plant, the cost of maintenance and amount of waste have been reduced, which has helped increase efficiency.

“One of the important issues is to prepare the ground for sustainable production in all seasons, for which maintenance programs are implemented in the fall and winter, when consumption is low,” he said.

The managing director also pointed out to the country’s self-sufficiency in manufacturing a major part of the required parts for power plants, as well as the local experts’ ability to do the repairs.

“By relying on domestic experts and engineers, and reducing waste of energy in different sectors, $3 million have been saved annually,” he said.

Shahid Rajaee power plant is fully prepared to provide sustainable electricity even during the peak summer season when temperature and consumption shoots up.

Electricity consumption has already reached a high of 55,000 megawatts in the past weeks.

Soaring temperatures during the past month (35°C and moving toward 50 centigrade in the south) has made households and businesses crank up cooling systems that are water-intensive.

“In the summer, severe heat negatively affects all equipment and the plant’s efficiency goes down. Substations and transmission lines are also affected, which reduces power output,” Farhour said.

The new round of maintenance procedures will begin from September and take about 8 months, during which 13 units of the plant will be overhauled.

Power demand is forecast to surpass 61,000 MW during the summer, 3,000 MW more than in last year. This is while Iran’s actual power generation is 59,000 MW.

To avoid possible blackouts during the hot season across the country, Farhour asked people to maintain normal consumption patterns.

According to weather reports, Iran will have a very hot summer this year. Assessments and analysis show that a temperature rise of 1 degree centigrade raises electricity consumption by over 1,300 megawatts in the country.

The systematic rise in consumption during summers compels the government to increase electricity import from neighboring states, with which Iran has long-term power swap agreements.