Iran's First Solar Power Plant to Become Operational in 2010

Apr 13, 2007 - BBC Monitoring Middle East

Tehran, 13 April: Iran's first solar thermal electric power plant will become operational in 2010 in central province of Yazd.

Importation of the modern technologies of building solar thermal electric power plants, developing and using clean energies, making optimum use of the energies produced from the regular fuels, boosting the power plants output, cutting the environmental pollution, stabilizing the voltages of the regions electricity, meeting the ever-increasing demands for electricity in the area, and upgrading the electricity production capacity are among the main objectives behind the set up of the plant in Yazd, noted the manager of the national project.

The project, being developed in the desert region of Yazd, will incorporate natural gas, steam, and solar energies, Mohammad Reza Modarresi commented, adding that because investment in the power stations employing integrated systems is by far more economical than the regular power plants. Solar thermal energy is a technology for harnessing solar power for practical applications from solar heating to electrical power generation.

Solar thermal collectors, such as solar hot water panels, are commonly used to generate solar hot water for domestic and light industrial applications.

Solar thermal energy is used in architecture and building design to control heating and ventilation in both active solar and passive solar designs.

Solar Electric Generating System (SEGS) projects are a series of utility-scale solar thermal electric power plants, which were designed and developed in the mid-1980's.

The plants operate on solar driven power, to ensure uninterrupted power during peak demand periods, cloudy days or early evenings, an auxiliary natural gas-fired heater is available and operates to supplement sources of power (the energy supplied by natural gas is limited by regulations to 25 per cent of the total effective annual plant energy input).

Researchers in the field are working to improve solar thermal technology and make the cost of producing solar thermal electric power increasingly competitive. (c) 2007 BBC Monitoring Middle East. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.