Siemens gives Iran first post-sanction turbine

German engineering group Siemens says it has shipped the first F-class gas turbine to Iran for the construction of a power plant. 

The shipment is the first stage of a bilateral contract covering the transfer of know-how for F-class gas turbine technology under a contract signed with Iran’s MAPNA Group six months ago.

The gas turbine will be used in a 600-megawatt power station being built in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf, Siemens said in a statement on Tuesday.

It is one of the two gas turbines which Siemens will supply to MAPNA, an Iranian energy and infrastructure conglomerate, along with two generators and the associated power plant instrumentation and controls.

Siemens signed a far-reaching agreement with MAPNA in March to collaborate on the transfer of know-how for the F-class gas turbine technology to modernize the Iranian power supply system.

The new power capacity being installed in Bandar Abbas is sufficient to supply electricity to 150 000 Iranian homes. MAPNA plans to expand the facility into a combined-cycle power plant at a later point in time.

Siemens’ activities in Iran go back as far as 1868 and involve important infrastructure projects, CEO of the Siemens Power and Gas Division Willi Meixner said on Tuesday.

“With the delivery of the first gas turbine to Iran we are renewing our long-term partnership with MAPNA with the aim of modernizing and expanding the country’s power supply network,” he said.

“We are therefore making an important contribution towards improving energy supplies to the people and to industry in Iran,” he added.

Siemens was one of the first major companies to agree on a deal with Iran after the lifting of sanctions in January, signing a $1.6 billion memorandum of understanding on Iran’s rail infrastructure and a long-term roadmap with MAPNA on the power sector.

Siemens said the agreement with MAPNA Group included a license for manufacturing F-class gas turbines in Iran. More than 20 gas turbines as well as the associated generators are scheduled to be delivered over the next four to five years, it said.

The Iranian Energy Ministry is planning to build further gas-fired power plants in various locations across the country. They are expected to help cover demand for electricity, which grows by approximately five percent each year.

The German industrial group suspended its cooperation with Iran in 2010 due to sanctions, but has resumed it since the sanctions were lifted.

In February, Siemens was finally able to deliver 30 gas compressors that were intended for the South Pars gas project.

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