Iran's annual power generation from renewables is expected to reach 1,000 megawatts once the sixth five-year development plan (2016-21) is fully implemented, managing director of Iran Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company (Tavanir) said on Saturday.
Speaking in the third national conference on application of GIS in the management of water and power industries in Sari, Arash Kordi added that at present less than 300 MW (2%) of the country's annual power production come from solar and wind energies, which is not satisfactory, IRNA reported.
GIS or geographic information system is designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage and present all types of spatial or geographical data used in technologies, processes and methods.
"Nowadays, power production from renewable and eco-friendly energies is of high importance and as electricity is considered a driving force in the world, this sector should be further supported by state-of-the-art technologies," he said.
Kordi noted that in view of about 800,000 kilometers of electric transmission lines nationwide and 32 million subscribers, to which 1.2 million are added annually, the application of GIS in the power industry can work as a supporting technology.
"The installation of 32 million smart meters, power wastage reduction and distributed generation of electricity from renewables top the Energy Ministry's list of priorities," he said.
Earlier this month, an unnamed German delegation signed a memorandum of understanding with Kerman's senior officials and Jask Total Development Company on building four solar power plants in the province.
To expand power production infrastructure from renewables, Iran has turned to European powerhouse Germany that produces 90,000 megawatts from renewables, more than Iran's total power generation capacity of 74,000 MW.
Another keynote speaker at the conference, Hossein Afzali, managing director of Mazandaran and Golestan Regional Electric Company, announced that the contract of building 13 power poles in northern Iran will, over the next three weeks, be signed with China under a $200 million finance contract.
"Upon the completion of these projects, 200 km of electric transmission lines will be established," he said.
The Persian Gulf country plans to raise total power generation capacity to more than 125,000 MW within 10 years.
The country's diverse climate allows it to exploit natural energy sources for power production, including from geothermal energy in the northwestern Ardabil Province and wind energy in Sistan-Baluchestan Province in the southeast.
