MAPNA Group and Mobarakeh Steel Company have inked an agreement for building the country’s largest concentrated solar power plant with a capacity of 600 MWs.
The contract for the project was signed and exchanged on May 29 by MAPNA Group President Abbas Aliabadi and the major steel producer’s CEO Mohammad Yaser Tayebnia.
The photovoltaic solar power plant will be erected near Kohpayeh city of Isfahan, central Iran, in an area of 1200 hectares by Mapna under an EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) scheme.
The plant is set to be constructed using the technology of spinning solar panels that rotate to capture the highest quantity of sunlight. It also makes use of bifacial solar cells that can produce electricity when illuminated on both its surfaces, front or rear, enhancing the efficiency of the plant.
At the signing ceremony, Aliabadi stressed the importance of industrial development and energy infrastructure for the country’s progress, especially in light of the legal and inevitable need to protect the environment.
Producing clean energy such as solar energy and saving energy on the consumption side were the best ways to support the country’s energy sector, he said, lauding Mobarakeh Steel Company for its previous cooperation with Mapna in building a 914-MW combined cycle power plant and for initiating the construction of this solar farm.
This project is very valuable and admirable for a country that is known for its oil and gas resources, he said, calling on other industrial institutions like to invest in renewable energies.
For his part, Tayebnia outlined the Isfahan-based steelmaker’s strategy in the past two years which focused on maximizing its existing capacities, completing the steel value chain and overcoming the challenges and bottlenecks in the steel industry. He said that it was necessary to solve the problems that they faced in the fields of energy and transportation.
He also mentioned the company’s social responsibilities in the field of environment and said that they had to complete the steel value chain while taking care of the environmental needs. He said that this was the only way to achieve sustainable development and that the company aimed to be a green industry role model.
He thanked MAPNA Group for being a partner and an exemplary industrial complex and said that the two power plant projects were big collaborations between the two groups in the field of energy. He hoped that the first phase of the solar power plant would be operational by early next year.
He said that the reason for setting up the new power plant was to meet Mobarakeh Steel Company’s energy needs, adding, “After setting up the combined cycle and solar power plants, we will not only stop being a burden on the country’s power grid, but we will also be able to supply it.”
He noted that the power plants will reduce the production of pollutants like CO2 by 2.5 million tons per year.
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