Tehran’s floating solar farm injected more than 1,000 megawatt hours of electricity to the national power grid in 2022, the deputy head of operations at the National Water and Wastewater Engineering Company of Iran (Abfa) said.
“The 1 GW floating photovoltaic farm built on wastewater canals in the South Wastewater Treatment Plant has more than 1,200 domestically-made panels and can help reduce water evaporation, save water and curb carbon emissions,” Morteza Ehteshami was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
The facility has been operating since 2018 and has generated close to 3,000 MW/h of power in the period, he added, noting that the solar farm helps reduce the emission of 1,200 tons of greenhouse gases and 1,000 tons of air pollutants like carbon monoxide, and saves 374,000 liters of water and 483,000 cubic meters of fossil fuel annually.
Ehteshami said the farm provides the wastewater treatment facility with much-needed power and the surplus is sold to the Energy Ministry.
In addition to water retention, which is particularly useful in areas susceptible to drought, water bodies that host floating solar arrays help cool the solar equipment, which means the panels produce electricity at higher efficiency in hot climate than otherwise, he added.
Solar panels are durable and can perform under high temperatures. But as with other electronics, higher temperatures reduce power output. Solar panel performance tends to decline as the mercury rises, which can be a concern for those wanting to install panels in hot and sunny regions.
Floating solar panels can shade the water they float on and reduce evaporation by up to 70%. The rapidly increasing efficiency (at least 19%) of solar panels over water has led to the construction of large-scale floating solar farms in China, India, the UK and Japan.
As per the Cabinet directive issued in 2022, all state-run offices were obliged to generate 20% of their power via renewable energies, especially solar photovoltaic panels, as of June.
According to the Energy Ministry report, offices that fail to comply with the new rule will have to meet 20% of their electricity demand from the Energy Bourse.
Environmental Pollutants
The expansion of rooftop photovoltaic power stations will help reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and curb environmental pollutants.
Each photovoltaic panel with a capacity of 1 kilowatt can generate 200 kW of power in a month.
Iran has all it needs to tap into clean energy but despite scientific studies and measures taken in this regard, the real potential has not been fully realized.
Only 1,000 megawatts of clean energy are produced in Iran, which is meager.
Iran is overly dependent on thermal power, as renewables account for hardly 1.2% of the total annual output of 90,000 MW.
“The government is determined to develop renewable energy,” Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian said.
The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Organization is tasked with preparing the ground for private sector investment in renewables and their export.
“The Energy Ministry is preparing a plan of action, based on which solar and wind power generated by private companies can be sold without state interference,” he added.
According to Mehrabian, the production and export of green energy should be as competitive as possible, such that private investors are able to handle all operations without government intervention.
