The central Yazd Province’s solar power production capacity financed by foreign investors is expected to reach 70 megawatts by the end of the current fiscal year (March 20, 2019), managing director of Yazd Regional Electricity Company said on Thursday.
“These power plants are under construction in cooperation with investors from Germany, Italy, France and Greece,” Mohammad Hassan Sabbaghzadegan was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
Sabbaghzadegan added that to help tackle peak power consumption in the summer, four solar power plants with a total capacity of 33.5 MW have already come on stream in the province.
According to the official, three 10-MW solar plants are located in the cities of Ashkezar, Ardakan and Mehriz, as well as a 3.5-MW one in Taft.
Sabbaghzadegan noted that the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Organization (Satba) is responsible for issuing construction permits for small and large solar power plants.
“So far, 20 investors have sealed deals with Satba on building solar plants in the province with a total power generation capacity of 200 megawatts,” he said, adding that the organization guarantees to purchase the output of the plants under construction for 20 years.
The hot and dry climate in Yazd is ideal for harvesting solar energy. The city, 630 kilometers southeast of Tehran, is situated between the two deserts of Dasht-e Kavir and Dasht-e Lut, the latter known as one of the hottest places on earth.
The province experiences on average 3,200 sunny hours per year, which clearly shows its potential for solar power generation.
Solar radiation in Iran is estimated at about 1,800 to 2,200 kilowatts-hours per cubic meter annually, which is higher than the global average. Iran is reported to have 280 sunny days per year on average.
Mohammad Reza Sehati, managing director of Yazd Electrical Distribution Company, said last month that there are more than 643,000 electricity subscribers in the province, most of which are residential consumers.
“With only 1.8% of power subscribers in Yazd, the industrial sector uses 53% of total power,” Sehati said, adding that the province is ranked fourth among Iranian provinces for having active industrial units, which stand at about 3,000.
Yazd Province’s population is 1.13 million, 85% of which live in urban areas.
Environmentalists and economic experts have often voiced skepticism over why the government and the private sector have not shown interest in building solar power infrastructure in Yazd, despite its huge potential because of the sunlight and the inherent profit thereof.
