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Iran's home-made E-class turbines: high-cost, low efficiency

Business Materials 3 November 2016 17:18 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 3

By Dalga Khatinoglu – Trend:

Iran is better to sign BOO (build, own, operate) or BOT (build, operate, transfer) contracts with foreigners instead of building power plants itself, the spokesman of parliament’s energy commission Asadollah Gharekhani told Trend.

The Deputy Energy Minister of Iran Houshang Falahatian said on Nov.3 that the cost of domestically made E-class turbines is much higher than the price of F-class and H-class turbines that the country imports.

Iran’s combined-cycle E-class turbines have about 45 percent efficiency, while this figure for F-class turbines is 58 percent.

Iran recently received its first F-class turbine, made by German Siemens, to be installed at a 1-GW power plant in Bandar Abbas.

Gharekhani said that specifically BOO contract is very beneficial for Iran.

“During the contract term, the government provides the fuel for plant, without charging any fees and purchases the electricity from a third-party company. The return of investment period can take 7-10 years,” he said, adding that right now, there is an ongoing negotiation with a Turkish company regarding the supply of electricity.

Turkey's Zorlu Enerji plans to invest over $4 billion for the construction of gas-fired power plants in Iran, the company said in September.

Iranian Minister of Energy Hamid Chitchian told Trend in August that the Belgian Unit International, with branches in Turkey, recently signed a contract with Iran to build 5,000 megawatts of combined-cycle power plants.

“The project is worth $3.5 billion and will be accomplished in three years,” Chitchian said.

Gharekhani said that there is another kind of contract (BOT), which envisages a financier building a plant and after its completion, the plant is in its disposal for several years. After the repayment is complete, the ownership of the plant is transferred to the energy ministry.

“Building plants need big finances and energy ministry want to do that with private financiers,” he said.

Iran has plans worth $30 billion for developing its power infrastructure by 2021, which include building power plants, repairing and upgrading current ones, as well as developing and making the power grid smart, Chitchian told Trend.

The country plans to increase nominal power generation capacity by 26 GW to 100 GW in the coming five years.

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