Iran’s total installed capacity of renewable energy production in both public and private sectors amounts to 241 megawatts, managing director of Iran Renewable Energy Association said on Tuesday.
“Iran has technically the potential to set up 40,000 MW of renewable power plants, 15,000 MW of which have proved to be economically viable,” Seyyed Moslem Mousavi was also quoted as saying by Shana.
About the status of renewables in the world, Mousavi noted that by 2013, $214 billion had been invested in the industry, which has resulted in the installation of wind power plants with a capacity of 318,000 MW and solar plants with 139,000 MW.
Seyyed Mohammad Sadeqzadeh, the head of Renewable Energy Organization of Iran, said the organization has, over the past six months, sealed contracts with the private sector on building renewable power plants to produce 900 MW, of which 100 MW are expected to be produced in the current Iranian year (started March 20).
Underscoring that the country’s renewable power production capacity will reach 500 MW by March 2018, Sadeqzadeh said based on projections, Iran will annually add 1,000 MW of renewable capacity. “The rate of return on investment in Iran’s renewable industry is about 20%, which takes less than six months to materialize in all sectors,” he said.
According to the official, due to the Iranian governments’ inaction over the past decades, the domestic renewable industry has not been developed significantly.
Sadeqzadeh noted that a worrying issue is that in the sixth five-year development plan (2016-21), prepared by the incumbent administration, no directive related to renewables has been included.
