Iran’s energy minister, Bijan Namdar-Zanganeh, has inaugurated the country’s newest power station, a 400 kW facility located in Aliabad. The new plant will facilitate the transfer of energy among the provinces of Khorasan, Semnan, Golestan and Mazandaran.
Stressing the importance of a national electric power grid, the minister noted that today, with the exception of one province, the electricity systems of all sections of the country are connected to one another. This, he said, has proven especially useful in conserving energy, inasmuch as it is possible to balance the countrywide electricity supply among the eastern and western flanks of the country, between which there is about an hour and 15 minutes difference between the lighting up times.
According to Hamshahri, the construction, installation, testing and the operation of the Aliabad plant was managed in its entirety by Iranian specialists. Furthermore, a majority of the parts used were manufactured locally, at one-third of the cost of what would have been charged by foreign contractors, the newspaper reported. This fact was seized upon the the energy minister, who said that projects like this will strengthen the level of expertise existing in Iran.
The energy minister also noted that Iran's power grid is connected to Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Republic of Nakhjavan and Turkmenistan. It has the potential of transferring 300 MW of electricity to the neighboring countries and generating an annual income of $300 million, he said. — (Albawaba-MEBG)
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
