Renewable Energy Organization of Iran (SUNA) is conducting field assessments in Qeshm, Kharg, and Khor Musa in the Persian Gulf on the region's renewable energy potentials, ILNA reported.
SUNA is currently preparing an energy atlas on wave energy and tidal current resources, said Akbar Shabani-Kia, SUNA's head of research department.
Considerable renewable energy potentials in southern and northern coastal regions have prompted Renewable Energy Technology Development Organization to cooperate with the Iranian National Institute for Oceanography and Atmospheric Science to prepare an atlas of Caspian region, Persian Gulf, and Sea of Oman.
The first phase, which is being carried out in the southern regions of Qeshm, Kharg, and Khor Musa, will be completed in six months.
The exact potentials of these regions will be established considering the wave and tidal energy potentials. The result will also determine which kind of turbines should be utilized to generate energy.
The resource assessments are pivotal to understanding water power potential for future electricity generation.
It can also be used to underpin decisions relating to the deployment of offshore wind, wave and tidal technologies as well as measures taken regarding marine environment.
Some 36 suitable sites have been identified across the southern coasts of Iran for tidal and wind energy generation, SUNA's wind energy director, Mohammad Satkin, said.
Khor Musa, in the southern Bushehr Province, is one of the suitable sites with a natural spiral formation.
The characteristics of the site would allow it to store water at spring tide, and return the stored water at neap tide. Khouran Strait, located between Qeshm Island and the mainland, is another suitable location, due to the fast current of water.
