Italy's Carlo Maresca has launched a 10-megawatt solar power plant on the southern Iranian island of Qeshm.
The plant was officially inaugurated on Tuesday by Fabio Maresca, chairman of the Italian company, during a ceremony attended by Italy's Ambassador to Iran Mauro Conchatori, IRNA reported.
"The plant is built using 30,000 solar panels on an area of 20 hectares to produce 17 million kilowatts of electricity annually," Maresca said.
Costing €8 million ($9.9 million), the plant is in an initial phase of the company's plan to produce 50 MW on the southern island.
Maresca in March 2016 signed a deal with Qeshm Free Zone Organization for the construction of the solar plant. The company made the headlines by becoming the first Italian firm investing in the country's photovoltaics.
The project is in line with the government's push to improve the southern island via expanding macroeconomic activities there and reinforcing its infrastructure, including the construction of the solar power plant.
--- Extended Cooperation
Following its successful bid in Iran, Maresca signed a $100-million contract with the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran to construct a solar power plant in Garmsar Special Economic Zone in the central province of Semnan.
As per the deal, a 100-megawatt plant will be built on a 2,000-hectare area within 15 months.
Such solar ventures are important stepping stones in Iran's clean energy program to raise 1,000 MW of renewable capacity a year through 2022. Renewables still account for 500 MW of the country's total power generation capacity that currently stands at 78,000 MW.
The country's push in the power industry is buoyed by the rapidly growing interest of foreign companies in Iran's renewable industry.
A consortium of Chinese and Hong Kong companies signed an agreement with IDRO in Dec. 2017 for a joint venture to produce solar photovoltaic panels in Iran.
The preliminary deal with China's Sunshine Solar Technology and Konda Energy of Hong Kong calls for establishing an automated production line for solar panels. The agreement gives IDRO a 30% stake in the project.
Austria's Solar and Benefit Group also entered a preliminary agreement with Fars Province Investment Services Center in Oct. 2017 on building four solar power plants with a combined capacity of 70 MW costing $100 million in Abadeh County in the province.
London-based renewable energy investor Quercus has also signed a deal to invest over €500 million ($600 million) in a solar power project in Iran. The planned 600-megawatt plant, located in central Iran, will be the sixth largest globally, behind projects of up to 1.5 gigawatts in China and India.
In 2016, another Italian company, Finergy, reached an agreement with Iran's Energy Ministry to build three solar power plants in Kerman, Yazd and Shiraz with a total capacity of 10 MW of electricity.
