Tehran, Iran, Jan. 5
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
Iran plans to construct a gas thermal power plant with the capacity to generate 500 megawatt of electricity in northern Mazandaran province.
Seyfollah Farzaneh, governor of Mahmoudabad district said that construction of the plant will cause no harm to the environment, Iran's Mehr News Agency reported Jan. 5.
"The plant will burn gas," he said, adding that mazut and diesel oil will not be used there.
Iran has supplied over 40 billion cubic meters of gas to power plants during the first nine months of current fiscal year (March 21-Dec. 21), Hamid Reza Araqi, managing director of the National Iranian Gas Company(NIGC) said on Dec. 23.
Araqi said that the figure increased by 9 billion cubic meters, or 29 percent compared to the same months of the preceding year.
Iran's oil ministry seeks to decrease liquid fuel consumption in the country by boosting gas consumption.
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh previously said that by increasing Iran's total gas output especially from joint fields, the country's liquid fuel consumption in the industrial units and power plants will be reduced.
Saeed Motasadi, deputy head of the country's Environment Protection Organization, said Dec. 21 that Iran will halt providing its thermal power plants with liquid fuel as of next fiscal year.
Gas shortage forced Iran to burn 28 billion liters of diesel oil and mazut in power plants last year.
It should be noted that the Islamic Republic holds 33.6 trillion cubic meters of proved gas reserves, sharing 18 percent of total global gas reserves which puts the country in the top of the world's gas holders list.
However, a lack of proper technology and investment led to long-term delays in implementation of gas production projects.
Edited by CN