South Khorasan Regional Electricity Company has installed 30 solar panels for 80 nomadic families in underprivileged areas over the last 10 months, managing director of the provincial Nomadic Affairs Organization said.
"Promoting and expanding renewable energy by supplying nomads with cheap and light photovoltaic panels is on the Energy Ministry agenda," Hossein Hosseinpour was quoted as saying by IRNA.
The panels and installation work cost $17,000 in several regions including Nehbandan city on the southern tip of the province. Another 370 households will be provided with the panels by March in the border areas.
"Installing each panel in nomadic tents costs $500, of which $425 is paid by the Energy Ministry," he said, adding that the panels generate enough power to help families meet their needs like watching TV and charging emergency lights as well as cellular phones in the middle of a plain or a desert.
Hosseinpour said there are 2,200 nomadic families in the province without access to electricity.
Nomads generally move from one place to another in search of pasture and water for cattle, set up tents and nurture livestock.
Technology provides the opportunity to help nomadic communities with facilities to ease their daily difficult tasks without interfering in their way of life.
Solar panels provide the opportunity to help nomadic communities with facilities to ease their daily difficult tasks without interfering in their way of life
Rapid expansion of cities has dwindled the population of nomads who mostly straddle regions in South Khorasan, Fars, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari and Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad provinces.
Data show that nomads made up almost one-fourth of Iran's population a century ago, but the number has dwindled below 2%.
According to Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian, the ministry is collaborating closely with the private sector in the renewable fields.
The interaction is helping nomads to add new dimensions to their unique lifestyle that has been typically defined without urban facilities such as electricity.
Although such initiatives will not raise the meager share of renewables in Iran in any fundamental way, it is seen as a step in the right direction.
Relying for decades on fossil fuels to generate power, Iran has made little progress in advancing its renewable program.
According to government data, the launch of new solar and wind projects in recent months pushed Iran's total installed capacity from renewables to around 1,000 megawatts -- a negligible amount compared to 69,000 MW plus of installed thermal capacity and 12,000 MW of hydropower.
