Urmia Combined-Cycle Power Plant

The 954MW Urmia gas-fired power plant, located in the West Azerbaijan province of Iran, is being converted into a 1,434MW combined-cycle facility by adding three steam turbines in phase two.

Tadbir Sazan Saramad (TSS), a private joint stock company established by Pasargad Energy Development Company (PEDC), Arian MahTaab Gostar and Omid Taban Hoor, is the owner and developer of the project.

Construction on the gas section of the power station started in November 2004 and the plant commenced simple-cycle operations in 2008.

The first steam turbine of the plant was commissioned in August 2020, increasing the plant’s capacity to 1,114MW. The second unit is expected to come online in early 2022 followed by the commissioning of the third steam turbine by March 2023.

The combined-cycle power project is intended to increase the overall plant efficiency from 32% to 49%, while reducing gas consumption significantly.

Location and site details

The Urmia combined-cycle power project is located in the Rashkan Industrial Zone in Urmia  County, West Azerbaijan Province, in north-west Iran.

The project site lies 35km away from the Urmia city on the road to Mahabad.

Urmia combined-cycle power plant make-up

The 1.4GW gas-fired combined-cycle power plant will feature three 160MW E-class steam turbines from Mapna Turbine Engineering and Manufacturing (TUGA), in addition to six existing V94.2 gas turbines also supplied by TUGA.

Four of the gas turbines are of 157.5MW capacity each, whereas as the remaining two are of 162MW capacity each.

The Urmia power plant operates on natural gas as the main fuel with oil used as the secondary fuel.

Other components of the plant include auxiliary boilers, gas pipelines, a gas pressure regulating station, compressed air system, two 20,000m³ fuel oil storage tanks, and water treatment and fire protection systems.

Power evacuation

The electricity generated by the Urmia gas-fired power plant is evacuated into the Iranian national grid through a 230kV transmission line.

Contractors involved in the Urmia gas-fired power project

Mapna Group was awarded the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the steam turbine units of the Urmia gas-fired combined-cycle power plant in October 2017.

Mapna Construction and Development Company 1 and 2 (MD-1 and MD-2) were also responsible for the EPC of the gas turbine units of the plant.

Iran Power Development Company (IPDC) engaged Ghods Niroo Consulting Engineers to provide project management and consulting services for the project.

Azarbayejan Gharbi Power Generation Management has been responsible for the operation and maintenance of the plant.

Norahan Sanaye was contracted to provide basic and detailed engineering and procurement services for the main and auxiliary cooling system of the plant in 2011.

Pars Kayhan was subcontracted by Mapna Group for the balance of plant (BOP) installation and commissioning services.

Monenco Iran provided engineering and design services for the water treatment, condensate water purification and air cooled condenser (ACC) cooling systems of the plant.

Hirbod Niroo was contracted for civil, mechanical, electrical and instrumentation works of plant’s fuel system in 2008.

TARA Developing Engineering and Industrial Services provided fire fighting and fire alarm systems for the plant.