Page 73 - IRANRptSep22

Plant launch makes Iran player in geothermal power
Tehran officials cut power to ‘big drain’ office blocks in bid to avoid blackouts
Dozens hospitalised in Iranian city as heatwave temperatures exceed 51.5°C
summer.
Another difficulty for Iran is that water shortages can lead to hydroelectricity shortages and subsequnt power blackouts.
Iran has reportedly become a player in the production of geothermal power.
With power lines now in place, the Sabalan plant located near the inactive Sabalan conical stratovolcano, near Meshgin Shahr in the far northwestern province of Ardabil, has gone into operation, delivering electricity to the grid, according to the CEO of Ardabil Province Electricity Distribution Company, as cited by ISNA.
“The last stage of the implementation of electricity transmission lines running from the Sabalan geothermal power plant to the interior of Meshgin Shahr city was completed at a cost of over 100 billion rial (around $325,000,” Hossein Al-Padiyy was reported as saying.
Eleven wells to a depth of 3,000 metres were drilled in the slopes of the Sablan stratovolcano so that the $47mn plant can tap geothermal energy, according to Al-Padiyy.
The 27-kilometre-long transmission line connects to a 63 kV substation.
Fearing power shortages, Iran’s state electricity supplier has cut power to Tehran office blocks it says are a big drain on the grid, IRIB reported on June 22.
Drastic measures to reduce electricity consumption have become rather familiar to Iranians in recent years, with power demand outstripping capacity during peak consumption months in the summer. The total cost to the economy of a day of extensive blackouts, such as through the disruption of commerce, is often estimated in the millions of dollars.
Masoud Nasri, head of the Electricity Monitoring Centre in Tehran, in a live state TV interview listed the names of what he claimed were high-power-consumption offices, namely: Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines, Commerce Bank central building, Agriculture Bank, Tehran Telecommunication Centre, Iran International Exhibition Centre, Sharif University of Technology, Roads and Transportation Organisation and Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organisation.
“At 12 o'clock, when most of the administrative work is done and the number of clients decreases, devices that fail to comply with the [advised] consumption pattern and take more [power] than is in the electricity consumption pattern will be cut off,” Nasri said.
The utilities official added that 250 people from the electricity board were now actively investigating potential power-use offenders. Those found in breach of the required power use levels, such as those under a midday power-down framework, would have their electricity disconnected during the day, he said. Some companies and homes in Tehran have resorted to using large power banks and diesel generators to ensure they escape outages.
More than 50 people were hospitalised amid temperatures that reached in excess of 51.5°C in Iran’s western city of Dehloran as a severe heatwave hit the country, state broadcaster IRIB reported on June 21.
The extreme heat, which broke the city’s recorded all-time high temperature level, will be taken as another worrying sign that Iran will face the brunt of accelerating climate change due to its large land mass, geographical position and big population of 85mn, which is already facing significant water shortages in various localities.
The super-strong heat faced by the inhabitants of Dehloran and other areas
73 IRAN Country Report September 2022 www.intellinews.com