The production of each megawatt of electricity at thermal power plants needs about 700 liters of water while renewable power stations do not use water and, as a result, prevent the consumption of over 1.5 billion liters of water annually, a member of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Organization said.
“Considering the large number of thermal power plants in the central and arid regions of Iran, which use huge amounts of freshwater, development of renewable power stations and replacing a part of thermal stations could have saved up to 17 billion liters of water per year in the country,” Mohammad-Ali Pour-Amiri was also quoted as saying by ILNA.
According to the latest reports, the capacity of renewable power plants in the country is 956 megawatts, the main share of which comes from solar power stations (52%) and then wind farms (34%).
“Renewable power plants in the country generate 2.2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year. If the same amount of electricity was to be produced by thermal power plants, it would need $300 million worth of fossil fuel as feedstock,” he said.
“When and if the capacity of renewables in Iran reaches 5,000 MW, the country can save $3.3 billion annually by not burning fossil fuels, which could then be exported or used to produce other value added products.”
Other than saving money, generating electricity from renewable sources, including solar and wind, is more eco-friendly than consuming fossil fuels as they do not emit greenhouse gases.
Environmental pollution caused by the use of fossil fuel for electricity production is a real problem.
More than 80% of Iran’s power plants burn natural gas to generate electricity. In the cold seasons when household gas use increases, power stations get less gas and are forced to burn liquid fuels such as diesel and mazut, which are among heavy polluters.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is among the major challenges facing nations, big and small.
Greenhouse gases trap the earth's emitted radiation, which otherwise escapes back into space. The primary greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone.
Renewables can help transform unsustainable production and consumption patterns, protect biodiversity, reverse deforestation and combat land degradation.
Iran has enormous potential for the production of a variety of renewable energies, including geothermal, solar and wind power, environmentalists and experts say.
Investment by private firms in the sector has surpassed $1.1 billion, mostly in solar power.
Global Status
According to REN21, a think tank and a multi-stakeholder governance group focused on renewable energy policy, the biggest success for renewables in 2021 was in the power sector.
A record 315 gigawatts of renewable power capacity was added globally – enough to power every household in Brazil. The biggest success stories are solar and wind, accounting for 90% of all new renewable power additions. Yet, the current deployment of renewable power is still far from what we need to keep the world on track to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
People do not use enough renewables to heat and cool their homes. The energy used in buildings accounts for around one-third of the global final energy demand, yet renewables are progressing only slowly in the sector (only 14.7% of energy use in buildings), representing only a 4% increase from a decade before.
The industry sector is the largest energy user, accounting for more than a third of global energy demand. Despite large potential to meet industrial energy demand with renewables (especially for low-temperature process heat), little progress has been made on shifting the sector to renewables.
Interest in renewables is picking up in agriculture. Progress in the transport sector remains slow. The share of renewables in the sector’s energy consumption grew by only 1.2% between 2011 and 2019, to 3.7%. Despite a temporary reduction in transport energy demand related to Covid-19, the overall trend shows rising demand, marking a 24% increase during the decade.
