The reasons and necessities of accelerating the replacement of electricity instead of gas

Hossein Mirafazli, an energy expert, wrote in a note for “Energy Press” that during the cold months of the year, 650 million cubic meters of gas are consumed daily in Iranian homes. Iran is the only country in the world where more than 90% of Iranian homes are supplied with natural gas, only ten countries in the world have a pipeline network that supplies an average of thirty percent to cities, and among these ten countries only Iran has a strong dependence on gas. In other nine countries, the share of gas in the heating of houses is about 30% on average
Iran is the only country where the price of domestic gas is very cheap. In Russia, Canada, America, Turkey and a few other limited countries that have home gas supply networks, gas prices are close to world prices. More than 90% of the countries with cold winters do not have a gas supply network to their homes, and people heat their homes with electricity, coal, firewood, and other methods, and on cold days, people wear warm clothes at home, not summer clothes.
With 650 million cubic meters of gas that burns in houses in the cold days of autumn and winter, 3.3 million megawatt hours of electricity can be produced day and night. . Over the past few decades, about 18 billion dollars have been spent on the construction of gas lines to large and small cities and villages. Iran is the only country in the world that has implemented gas supply to remote villages and all small towns. In several other countries, heating of houses in remote villages and small towns is provided through electricity and other methods. Iran is the 69th country in the world in terms of the amount of cold in winter, and a few countries that implemented an average of 30% gas supply to homes are among the coldest countries in the world, including Russia, Canada, America, Turkey, Bulgaria and several other countries.
The global price of electricity per kilowatt hour is about 10 cents. With 650 million cubic meters of gas per day (27 million cubic meters per hour), it is possible to produce 135 million kilowatt hours of electricity, which in terms of ten cents, the value of 135 million kilowatts is equivalent to 13.5 million dollars per hour and 100 billion dollars per year, which is thirty million There are household electricity subscribers in Iran, considering the consumption of three kilowatt hours, we need 90 gigawatts of electricity for each subscriber. Per capita electricity consumption in the coldest countries in the world, which do not have domestic gas piping, is 10,000 kilowatts per year. The average per capita electricity consumption in the world is 3100 kilowatts per year. In terms of per capita 10 thousand kilowatts for every Iranian, we should produce 106 thousand megawatt hours of electricity in the country. If within three years about 70% of the people of Tehran will remove gas and replace it with electricity, the existing and developing infrastructure of Tehran and other cities will be responsible for the electricity consumption needed by the city to replace electricity with gas. By defining the standard of per capita electricity consumption of each person equivalent to similar people in the most prosperous and coldest countries in the world, no one can object to the determined consumption pattern. The electricity price of customers who consume more than the defined standard and pattern should be calculated in a staggered and progressive manner up to the global prices.
With the implementation of the plan to replace at least half of the consumed gas for heating the houses with electricity and by applying the mentioned consumption pattern, we need about 25 thousand megawatts of electricity, which can be provided in the following ways:
The electricity that is added to the grid when the coolers are turned off in the cold months of the year.
The water engines of agricultural wells, which consume 15% of the country’s electricity in the summer, are turned off in the cold months of the year, and at least 7,000 megawatts are injected into the national grid.

The efficiency of power plants increases by about 15% in the cold months of the year.
Install small CHP or CCHP generators in areas where there are weak intra-city transmission lines. These power generators have high efficiency and each of them can supply electricity to a town.
Explanation: The price of ordinary electric heaters is much cheaper than gas heaters. In the cold days of the year, gas heaters are the main cause of air pollution and lack of oxygen in homes and cities, and all kinds of diseases in big cities
With the following methods, people can be encouraged to replace electric heaters instead of gas heaters.
The energy bill should replace the electricity and gas bill
The price of electricity for the consumption pattern of 5 kilowatt hours for each subscriber will not change compared to the current prices
The price of gas should be increased stepwise and exponentially for uses that exceed the standard (the standard should also be determined as one cubic meter per hour equivalent to the gas needed to produce 5 kilowatts of electricity), considering the pollution and problems that gas consumption creates for the people and the country, the implementation of this Politics is for the benefit of the nation.
In the shortest possible time, smart electricity meters will replace regular meters.
During low network load hours and weekends, the price of electricity should be less than one third of the price of peak consumption hours.
The advantages and results of implementing the aforementioned policies:
Energy consumption in the country is reduced
The burning of billions of cubic meters of gas in cities and the heavy pollution of cities with CO2 are prevented.
The destruction of billions of cubic meters of oxygen in cities and villages in the flames of gas heaters is prevented.
The high-risk 95% reliance on gas is reduced to less than 50%, and diversity in thermal energy consumption is created.
The gas deficit will disappear and petrochemical and steel units and other large and small industries will produce at maximum capacity without worrying about gas interruption.
The country’s dependence on gas imports from Russia and Turkmenistan will disappear.
Iran will become a reliable exporter of gas.
The standards of optimal energy consumption in industries and construction and all fields will be implemented and established.
People in big cities are prevented from suffering from incurable and incurable diseases caused by air pollution and lack of oxygen in the air.
The risk of explosion of thousands of kilometers of gas pipelines under the cities will be reduced and will be manageable over time.
The motivation of the government and people to replace ordinary meters with smart electricity meters increases. With these meters, electricity consumption can be managed, and low-consumption subscribers and subscribers who consume less electricity during peak hours will pay much less for electricity. Why? that the price of electricity in non-peak hours is half to a third of the peak hours (the peak hours of electricity consumption are generally from evening to 10 at night) on the other hand, smart electricity meters are much cheaper and less risky than smart gas meters
The attractions and efforts to increase the production of renewable electricity such as hydroelectricity, solar electricity and wind electricity, etc., will increase to meet domestic and export needs.

The tendency towards water coolers that consume one sixth of electricity of gas coolers will increase. The electricity consumption of BLDC water coolers is about 60% less than normal water coolers. The consumption of a gas cooler is 4 times that of a normal cooler
In the preparation of explanatory plans and the selection of technology and industrial and construction equipment, etc., the amount of electricity consumption will become an important criterion (as in all developed countries).
People will not turn on high consumption electrical appliances during peak consumption hours
Some additional suggestions:
Electricity for uses less than the consumption pattern should be calculated at the average rate of exported electricity and electricity delivered to large industries in the credit account of low consumption and settled once every six months. This plan will encourage people to use smart meters, reduce consumption during peak hours, Buying low consumption electric appliances, using water cooler instead of gas cooler and other types of arrangements will be done. The successful implementation of this plan can eliminate the imbalance of electricity production and consumption and create billions of dollars of direct benefits for the national economy.
The above plan should be implemented on a trial basis in some specific regions of the country. And after the defects are identified and completed, it will be implemented in more areas and if successful, it will be implemented nationwide within a few years.
Most of the gas heaters used in the country are grade C, D, E, F, G and are very high consumption, by replacing grade A heaters with high consumption heaters, hundreds of millions of cubic meters of gas consumption will be reduced. A policy should be adopted to encourage people to make this replacement faster.
CCHP power plants should be used in population, industrial and commercial centers. These small generators are installed in special booths that control the sound emission and occupy 15 to 20 meters of space. The advantages of such power plants for the mentioned centers and big cities are:
Preventing the loss of 15% of produced electricity in the transmission path
Selling electricity to the national network according to approved prices
Replacing these generators instead of engine houses
No need to buy a diesel generator for emergency power
Less energy consumption than electricity production
Supporting the construction of combined cycle power plants on the seashore for the following reasons:
Electricity generation with 55% efficiency
Steam production for industrial use and heating of commercial, office and residential complexes
Production of hundreds of millions of cubic meters of fresh water needed by industries and people
Higher efficiency of the power plants located at the edge of the sea due to the pressure difference
Using nitrogen and CO2 coming out of the chimney to inject into the oil and gas fields (by injecting nitrogen and CO2 coming out of the chimney of the power plants into the oil and gas fields, tens of billions of dollars more oil and gas can be extracted.)
Proximity to large industrial centers with heavy consumption on the seashore
Moving in the direction of slogan and strategy on the remaining land of sea-oriented development