Volume 6 hydro power 6 09 – hydropower development in iran vision and strategy

Volume 6 hydro power 6 09 – hydropower development in iran vision and strategy Volume 6 hydro power 6 09 – hydropower development in iran vision and strategy Volume 6 hydro power 6 09 – hydropower development in iran vision and strategy Volume 6 hydro power 6 09 – hydropower development in iran vision and strategy Volume 6 hydro power 6 09 – hydropower development in iran vision and strategy Volume 6 hydro power 6 09 – hydropower development in iran vision and strategy Volume 6 hydro power 6 09 – hydropower development in iran vision and strategy

6.09 Hydropower Development in Iran: Vision and Strategy

E Bozorgzadeh, Iran Water and Power Resources Development Company (IWPCO), Tehran, Iran

© 2012 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved

References

6.09.1 Introduction

The long-term average precipitation of Iran is around 250 mm, which is nearly one-quarter of the world’s average amount, so Iran is classified as an arid and semi-arid country In addition, the precipitation is not evenly distributed all over the country, so about two-thirds of total run-off flows in one-third of the country at 16 major rivers The total precipitation and renewable water amounts – including surface and groundwater – are 413 and 130 bcm, respectively The total surface water amount is 92 bcm of which around 27 BCM flow into three major basins, namely the Karoun, Dez, and Karkheh river basins, which are located in the south-west of the country over the Zagros mountain chains where the major hydropower projects are located Northern and Northwestern regions have relevant precipitation and pertinent topography to develop medium- and small-sized hydropower plants too So, Iran has been attempting to develop hydropower stations in these areas

6.09.2 Energy Generation in Iran

6.09.2.1 Energy Flow in Iran

The latest energy flow diagram was prepared by the Tavanir Company According to this, the total energy sources were equal to 2583.5 million barrels of oil equivalent (MBOE) of which 1052.7 MBOE were consumed in the country at 2008

In addition, the consumption of petroleum and its products reached 85.5 MBOE for energy generation in thermal power plants This means that nearly 75% of petroleum import and its products were consumed for electricity generation in thermal power plants Also, the amount of natural gas consumption to generate electricity was equal to 232.9 MBOE, which was 29% of the country’s natural gas production In addition, the ratio of fossil energy sources, which was consumed in thermal power plants, to the total consumption of energy was about 0.3, whereas this ratio was about 0.01 for hydropower and renewable energy In other words, the contribution of hydropower and renewable energy to generate electricity reached 10.7 MBOE, which was 0.14% of the total productions in 2008

Energy price is one of the outstanding features of the energy section of the country The energy cost is very cheap due to subsidies which are paid by the government Based on the analysis of the annual budget approved by the parliament, the total subsidy paid in energy sections by the government was about 3.6 times the total budget appropriated in civil engineering activities in the country in the financial year of 2005 It seems that more hydro stations should be developed to reduce the consumption of fossil fuel sources and to improve budgetary appropriations to better the situation as well

6.09.2.2 Electricity Generation in Iran

The total nominal capacity of power plants reached 52 586 MW in 2008 This shows an increasing rate of 7.1% in comparison with last year At the same time, the total installed capacity of hydropower plants has met 7672 MW Figures 1 and 2 display the contribution of different types of power plants in terms of total installed capacity and energy generation, respectively As demon­ strated, the contribution of steam power plant, gaseous stations, and hydropower plants are 45.4%, 43.1%, and 14.5%, respectively

In other words, the hydropower plants are in the fourth step Recently, because of drought phenomena, hydropower plants contribution was only 2.2% in term of energy generation, whereas their contribution was 9% during 2006–08 The maximum contribution of hydropower plant had been 13% during the last 5 years

In order to generate electricity, the thermal power plants have totally consumed 43 412 million cubic meters of gas, 4398 million liters of gas oil, and 8911 million liters of oil in 2008 So their percentages were 76, 16.4, and 7.6 for gas, oil, and gas oil, respectively In Table 1, the pertinent indexes for electrical energy generation have been depicted

Figures 3 and 4 show how the nominal capacity and energy generation varied during 1992–2008 and 1966–2008, respectively According to these figures, the diesel power plants’ nominal capacity and energy generation decreased at these periods

Hydro 2.2

Gas 25.6

C.C 26.6

Steam 45.4

Wind and Solar 0.1

Diesel 0.1

Figure 1 Contribution of all types of power plants – energy generation (2008)

Hydropower 14,5 Gas

Steam 29.5

Wind 0.1

Diesel 0.8

Figure 2 Contribution of all types of power plants – capacity (2008)

minal installed capasity (MW)

60 000

50 000

40 000

30 000

20 000

10 000

Year

Wind

250 000

150 000

Hydro

100 000

0

1967 1968 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Gas

Year

Steam

Hydropower Development in Iran: Vision and Strategy 255

Table 1 Pertinent indexes of electricity networks in 2008

Average actual capacity 47 589 MW 6.7 Maximum concurrent power capacity 34 270 MW –0.9

Figure 3 Nominal capacity trends of all types of power plants

Figure 4 Electricity generation trends of all types of power plants

The trends of different sources for electricity generation have been depicted in Figure 5 during 1966–2008 The contribution of hydro­ power plants has changed from 35.8% to 3.1% in 1966 till 1999, respectively In other words, the hydropower plants contribution has not increased for a long time due to imposed war (Iran–Iraq war) and has enhanced since 2000 so that it reaches 14.5% at present

100

80

60

40

20

0

1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007

Year

Figure 5 Trends of different power plants for electricity generation (percentage)

6.09.3 Considerations and Requirements for Hydropower Developments

In this section, the considerations, limitations, and requirements for hydropower plant developments are described in point of view

of diverse effects such as technical, legal, and organizational issues, and so on

6.09.3.1 Requirements

• Obeying and adjusting long-term program and periodic plans such as annual, 5-year development programs and long-term vision of the country, as well as other related rules, regulations, and instructions

• Accelerating the exploitation of renewable sources of energies to save opportunity costs

• Accomplishing the investigation phases of hydropower projects including master planning, reconnaissance, feasibility studies, and the detailed design stage as soon as possible

• Perfect appropriating of actual incomes gained from hydro generation to develop more hydropower projects

• Designing hydropower plants to operate at peak hours so that the best combination of diverse power sources is created

• Real assessment of all kinds of benefits of hydropower stations including energy generation, frequency control, flood control, irrigation, recreational aspects, and so on, particularly in multipurpose projects

• Actualizing the price of energy

• Enhancing financial sources to develop more hydropower stations such as securing loans and financial support from donor international institutions such as the World Bank, Islamic Development Bank, CDM, as well as from the private sector

• More attention to structural aspects of water and energy resources management in design, construction, and operation stages

In this regard, the integrated water resources management issue should be implemented

• Concurrent completion of hydro projects and other related projects, such as watershed management to protect those projects against sedimentation problems, executing the irrigation network to gain agricultural benefits in the case of multipurpose projects, and so on

• Revising the master planning projects of energy and water resources planning in all major basins to be adjusted with social and environmental constraints and sustainable development goals

• Education, documentation, and establishing a robust database

6.09.3.2 Restrictions and Limitations

6.09.3.2.1 Geographic issue

Hydropower plants require suitable topographic situations and should be adjusted to atmospheric and environmental conditions 6.09.3.2.2 Technical issues

• Since Iran has been classified as an arid and semi-arid country owing to the low amount of precipitation, there are usually inconsistencies and conflicts between hydropower projects and inter-basin water transfer projects in particular

• Lengthening the construction period of the product

• There are no abundant suitable and feasible sites to develop hydropower projects in most parts of the country, particularly conventional ones

Kalan Hydropower 116 MW Caspian Sea

Dez Hydropower 520 MW

Karkheh Hydropower 400 MW

Masjed solyman Hydropower 2000 MW

Karoun1 Hydropower 2000 MW

Karun3 Hydropower 2000 MW

Mola sadra Hydropower 100 MW

Persian Gulf

Hydropower Development in Iran: Vision and Strategy 257

• Competing with alternative methods to generate the required energy

• Adverse environmental impacts and archeological problems

• Lack of suitable database

6.09.3.2.3 Organizational issues

• There are a lot of stakeholders and institutes which are involved in water issue with diverse interests so that decision-making becomes sometimes either exhausting or impossible

• The organization which is chiefly responsible to develop hydropower projects sometimes has not been authorized as much as necessary

• Experts and software insufficiency in consultancy companies, clients, and contractors

• Existence complexities and ambiguities in water laws and identifying stakeholders needs

6.09.3.2.4 Economic and financial issues

• Providing the required investments are sometimes difficult, for example, the large hydropower projects need high amounts of investment cost

• Intensive dependency to governmental budgets The private sector has not been involved much due to lack of efficient strategies

to encourage them to invest

• Existence ambiguities in economic assessment of these projects

6.09.4 Potentiality of Hydropower Projects

In recent decades, many projects have been carried out to identify suitable sites to develop hydropower plants all over the country

by different consultancy companies Many of the projects identified are either under construction or in operation, and the rest are studied at different phases In this part, the results are reviewed comprehensively and described in the following sections 6.09.4.1 Under Operation Projects

The total installed capacity of hydropower projects in the country reached 7733 MW at 2008 Map 1 shows the spatial distribution of large hydropower projects in the country

Map 1 Spatial distribution of large hydropower projects

Sardashi Hydropower 120 MW

Caspian Sea Darian Hydropower 210 MW

Tange mashoureh Hydropower 110 MW

Roudbarelorestan Hydropower 450 MW

Seymareh Hydropower 480 MW

Bakhtiari Hydropower 1500 MW

Golvand Hydropower 1500 MW

Karun4 Hydropower 1000 MW

Khersan3 Hydropower 400 MW

Chameshir Hydropower 150 MW

Persian Gulf

Map 2 Location of large high-pressure processings

6.09.4.2 Under Construction Projects

The total capacities of hydropower projects which are under construction are 6037 MW conventional projects and 1040 MW nonconven­ tional projects All of them would be launched until 2019 Map 2 shows the location of large hydropower projects in the country 6.09.4.3 Under Study Projects

6.09.4.3.1 Storage hydropower projects

Due to climatic and topographic conditions, this kind of hydropower project has been located mainly in the mountainous regions

of the Zagros mountain chains and partly in the Alborz mountain chains In these areas, there are 14 power plants with a total capacity of 4200 MW (Map 3)

6.09.4.3.2 Large run-off-river hydropower plants

In total, five large run-off-river power plants with a capacity of 2800 MW were studied in the Dez, Karoon, Karkheh, and Aras basins (Map 4)

6.09.4.3.3 Medium run-off-river power plants

According to the studies which were carried out in most parts of the country, this kind of hydropower project could be developed in the mountainous regions of Alborz and Zagros In this case, a number of projects which are feasible, with a total capacity of

1500 MW, were identified over nine main basins (Map 5)

6.09.4.3.4 Small run-off-river power plants

Over the Zagros and Alborz mountain chains, there are suitable locations to develop small run-off river In these areas, there are suitable heads and discharges at the rivers All feasible small run-off-river projects have been classified according to their locations and other considerations so that they can be set at 17 packages with a total capacity of 460 MW (Map 6)

6.09.4.3.5 Pumped-storage power plants

In order to perform the frequency control and to balance loads and demands in electrical network, the Siah Bisheh 1000 MW pumped-storage project has been constructed In addition, a number of pumped-storage projects have been investigated that have a

Peertagh: Installed Capacity

300 MW Qezelozan Basin

Zalaky: Installed Capacity

Paveh Rood: Installed Capacity

258 MW Qezelozan Basin

Lirou: Installed Capacity

324 MW Dez Basin Bazoft: Installed Capacity

185 MW Karkheh Basin

Kouran Bouzan: Installed Capacity

284 MW Karkheh Basin

Karoon-5: Installed Capacity

393MW Khersan Basin

Khersan-2: Installed Capacity

682MW Khersan Basin

Kalat: Installed Capacity

150MW Maroon Basin

Persian Gulf Chame Bastan: Installed Capacity

150 MW Zohreh Basin Haj Ghalandar: Installed Capacity

120 MW Zohreh Basin Map 3 Spatial distribution of storage high-pressure processings

Caspian Sea

263

300

360

930

1000

Persian Gulf

60 MW

136

420

50

Persian Gulf Map 4 Spatial distribution of large run-off-river projects

Map 5 Spatial distribution of medium run-off-river projects

capacity of 7000 MW Map 7 shows the regions which are under investigation for the development of nonconventional hydropower projects

6.09.4.3.6 Synthetic and conclusion

The last situation of under study/construction hydropower is shown in Table 2 in brief, and the planned trend to develop hydropower projects in the future is depicted in Figure 6

Aghchi P Caspian Sea 5th Package North 10 MW

Lorestan Pac

Charmahal Pac

Kohkiloyeh Pac

Persian Gulf

Map 6 Spatial distribution of small run-off-river projects

Tehran-Semnan Region Needed Install Capacity 1300MW

Khorasan Region Needed Install Capacity 400MW

Kerman-Hormozgan Region Needed Install Capacity 400MW

Needed Install Capacity 1000

Needed Install Capacity 1000

Persian Gulf

Map 7 Spatial distribution of regions which are under investigation for pumped-storage projects