Adding 5,000 megawatts of renewable energy to the present 670 MW renewable output will help create 100,000 jobs, a member of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mine and Agriculture said.
Mohammad Amin Zanganeh was referring to the Sixth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2017-22) in which increasing renewable power by 5,000 MW is envisaged, ILNA reported.
Thanks to windy and sunny days, Iran has the potential to create a larger number of jobs in the green energy sector, he said.
“Renewables can serve as an engine for employment and development,” Zanganeh added, noting that promoting the gradually expanding sector would create jobs for the rural people in the deprived areas and there will be no need for them to migrate to cities in search of work.
Iran’s rural population is said to be 20 million, accounting for about 26% of the total 82 million people. It is being reported regularly that rural areas are being abandoned due to lack of work and the water crisis.
Iran has been suffering from drought plus declining precipitation for decades and the water crisis has reached a new high in recent years.
In such conditions, the development of renewable energy in rural regions, with abundant land and unlimited access to sunlight and strong winds, can and will lead to sustainable income and help reduce the worrying rural-to-urban migration.
Currently, renewables account for 670 MW of the total nominal power capacity (82,000 MW) in the country. So far, 20,000 people are involved in the construction, development and maintenance of solar, wind, hydroelectric, waste-to-energy and biomass power plants.
A total of 85 large power plants and 2,000 small-scale photovoltaic power stations are operating in renewable sector while another 2,000 others are in different stages of construction.
Development of renewable energy in the rural regions, with abundant land and unlimited access to sunlight and strong winds, can and will lead to sustainable income, and help discourage the worrying rural-to-urban migration as entire villages are abandoned
Global Growth
The number of jobs being created through renewable energy is on the increase, according to a report from the International Renewable Energy Agency.
Last year, global renewable energy employment reached 10.3 million, a 5.3% increase on the previous year, Independent reported.
While an increasing number of countries are deriving socio-economic benefits from renewable energy, employment remains highly concentrated in a handful of countries, including China, Brazil, the US, India, Germany and Japan.
Employment trends in the renewable energy sector are being shaped by a wide range of technical, economic, and policy-driven factors, the report found. China, in particular, is forging ahead and accounted for almost half of all renewable energy jobs last year.
Its share of employment is especially high in solar heating and cooling (83%) and in the solar photovoltaic sector (66%).
A factor behind the growing level of employment in Asian countries - which accounted for 60% of renewable jobs in 2017 - is down to growing domestic deployment, as well as strong manufacturing capabilities, which are supported by government policies such as feed-in tariffs, auctions, and preferential credit and land policies, according to Irena.
PV was the largest employer, with 3.4 million jobs, up 9%. Expansion in the PV sector took place in China and India, while the US, Japan and the EU lost jobs.
"The role of renewables in the global energy system keeps expanding," Irena said. "This process is key to stabilizing the global climate, avoiding employment degradation, and improving human health.
"As the global transition towards a more sustainable energy system unfolds, the world's renewable energy workforce will continue to expand."
