Iran’s total installed capacity of renewable energy production will surpass 1,000 megawatts, or 1 gigawatt, by the end of the current fiscal (March 2019), said the managing director of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Organization, a state-owned entity also known as Satba.
“Renewable energy production capacity has reached 640 MW. Upon the completion of ongoing plans by the end of this year, 410 MW will be added to it,” Mohammad Sadeqzadeh was also quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
According to the official, the move is aimed at saving fossil fuels and meeting the country’s energy needs through green sources.
All renewable sources, including solar and wind, make up only a fraction of Iran’s installed power generation capacity of around 80,000 MW. The country relies on hundreds of mostly aging thermal plants to meet its electricity demand.
The Satba chief noted that the development of renewables has accelerated in the past few years.
“Investments in the sector during the past fiscal (March 2017-18) grew by 70% compared with the previous corresponding period,” he said.
“This is while the March 2016-17 period had seen a 40% increase compared to the previous year.”
Sadeqzadeh said hundreds of renewable projects with a total value of over 100 trillion rials ($1 billion) have been implemented in the past two years, including a large number of 1,700 small- scale rooftop panels.
Noting that these projects have been financed by the private sector, Sadeqzadeh said the government has taken effective measures for increasing the role of private sector in such projects.
“Prior to this, rooftop investors enjoyed a 30-rial per kilowatt discount on their electricity taxes, but it has been doubled,” he said.
Effective steps have been taken to encourage domestic investments in expanding renewable sources of energy, including a pledge by Satba on guaranteed purchase of electricity from renewable power producers for 20 years.
“Those who embark on renewable power projects using domestic equipment will be allowed to sell their electricity at 30% over the normal tariffs,” he said.
Sadeqzadeh noted that Iran enjoys enormous potentials for the production of different kinds of renewable energies, including geothermal, solar and wind power.
According to Satba, close to 1.8 billion kilowatt hours of electricity have been generated in the country from renewable sources since June 2009.
This electricity has helped the country save 412 million liters of water in the past nine years, of which 13 million liters were saved between Nov. 22 and Dec. 21, 2017. The country curbed its greenhouse emissions by 41,000 tons. The electricity generated since 2009 has helped the country save as much as 531 million cubic meters of fossil fuels, which are the main cause of air pollution.
Iran intends to increase the share of renewable electricity in its energy mix, partly due to air pollution and to meet international commitments, hoping to have about 5 gigawatts of renewables installed by 2022.
