Iran's energy minister says the country has plans to launch new desalination projects to supply 17 provinces with desalinated water from the sea.
Feasibility studies have begun to inspect building desalination facilities at a distance of 100 kilometers from the sea, Reza Ardakanian said on Tuesday.
Pointing to the growing progress in the seawater desalination facility technology in the world, the minister said advanced technology would reduce the cost of saltwater desalination.
He further noted that one of the economically feasible ways for Iran to run desalination facilities is to use the waste heat from thermal power stations.
Supplying the energy for desalination plants with the waste heat energy from the gas-fired and combined cycle gas turbine plants would increase the efficiency of power stations and help supply fresh water for the bulk of coastal provinces, the minister explained.
Iran’s energy ministry will open second phase of a major seawater desalination project in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas in the coming weeks.