Renewable energy is the most cost-effective compared to all other traditional sources to generate power, head of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Organization (Satba) said Wednesday.
"The cost of producing every kilowatt hour of electricity from fossil fuel is 11 cents whereas generating the same from green sources costs three times less," Seyed Mohammad Sadeqzadeh was quoted as saying by the Energy Ministry's news portal, Paven.
"Contrary to common belief, renewables are not costly anymore," he added, noting that the speed at which renewables have become cost competitive is staggering. Furthermore, the cost of generating power from non-fossil fuels is bound to decline further in the near future given technological breakthroughs and increasing investments.
The cost of renewable energy is now falling so fast that it should be a consistently cheaper source of electricity generation than traditional fossil fuels within just a few years, according to a new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
The organization–which has more than 150 member countries–says the cost of generating power from onshore wind has fallen by around 23% since 2010 while the cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity has fallen by 73% in that time. With further price falls expected for these and other green energy options, IRENA says all renewable energy technologies should be competitive on price with fossil fuels by 2020.
Sadeqzadeh said 47% of foreign direct investment in Iran’s power sector last year was in green energy. He did not elaborate.
Investment so far in renewable has surpassed $1 billion, the news portal said.
During the hot summers when there is need for extra power, electricity from solar farms is purchased at 9 cents per kWh.
Creating jobs in remote rural areas, curbing immigration, saving water, reducing power wastage as well as cutting carbon emissions are among the most significant advantages of green energy.
An estimated 1,500 small and 50 industrial renewable power plants have been built across the country over the past two years.
Renewables account for 750 megawatts of total installed power capacity which now is 82 gigawatts.
An estimated 2.9 billion kilowatt hours of electricity has been produced from renewables since March 2009.
According to Paven, the output helped save 623 million liters of water in the past decade, of which 17 million liters was saved in just one fiscal month, January 21 to February 20.
During the period, renewables help reduce greenhouse emissions by as much as 2 million tons.
Green power produced since 2009 has also helped save 804 million cubic meters of natural gas.
Iran has huge potential for the production of renewable energies, including geothermal, solar and wind power, environmentalists and experts say.
