Iran
has fully designed, engineered and constructed a water turbine for the
first time, etching a niche in the renewable energy industry. . The
country relies on imports for vital parts of hydro power plants which
make up 10,000 megawatts or 14% of Iran’s overall energy mix. . Iranian
engineers have now successfully tested the first homemade water turbine
and a governor at a 10-megawatt power station built on the Azad Dam in
the Iranian Kurdestan, the Tasnim news agency reported. . A governor is another vital device used to regulate the speed of a turbomachine. . “The
turbines of the Azad power plant are of the Francis type with a
vertical axis and nominal rotation of 1,000 revolutions per minute,”
Managing Director of Iran Water and Power Resources Development Company
Mohammad Reza Rezazadeh said. . Francis turbines are by far the most
commonly used type of turbine characterized by its optimal efficiency
and high speed ranges. . Last April, Deputy Energy Minister
Houshang Falahatian said Iran had built a 25-megawatt gas turbine,
joining a select club of world countries owning the technology. . Iran
has stepped up use of gas-fired plants to replace thermal facilities
which generate 85% of power in Iran. Last year, it fed 50 billion cubic
meters of gas into its power plants, up from 36 billion cubic meters.
A thermal power plant in Iran. The
country has also embarked on a push to add 5,000 megawatts of renewable
wind and solar power to its grid by 2018. According to state officials,
projects for 1,300 megawatts are either underway or have been signed. . On
Thursday, the Mehr news agency quoted a Suzlon Energy executive as
saying that the Indian company, one of the world’s leading wind turbine
suppliers, was competing with Germany’s Siemens for renewable energy
projects in Iran. . “Iran has a very large capacity to generate
electricity from wind energy. Suzlon is willing to cooperate with the
Iranian energy industry in a joint investment framework or on supply of
know-how, technology, turbines and equipment when sanctions are lifted,”
it quoted Himan Shukari as saying. . Executives of India’s biggest
energy, power and petrochemical companies are currently in Tehran to
explore investment opportunities in the wake of the recent opening in
Iran’s trade environment.
