Qeshm Solar Power Venture Underway

Work on constructing a 10-megawatt solar power plant in Qeshm Island started on Wednesday in what would be the first photovoltaic power station on the Persian Gulf island.

On the sidelines of the groundbreaking ceremony for the solar project on Wednesday, Hamidreza Momeni, managing director of Qeshm Free Trade Zone, said the plant will be built in an area of about 15 hectares (150,000 sq. meters) in Tula industrial town on Qeshm Island, IRNA reported.

According to Momeni, a domestic energy company is commissioned to set up the power plant in two phases.

He added that the first phase of the project, which requires 100 billion rials (about $2.6 million) in investment, is planned to go on stream in a year, employing Italian and German technology.

Momeni noted that the power plant will create jobs for 50 people.

Ex-energy minister, Hamid Chitchian, told ILNA in mid-July that international investors are increasingly looking at Iran as a strong market for renewable power projects, anticipating a "big leap" in the country's fledgling renewable industry in the next few years.

"Foreign investors have submitted investment proposals worth a total of $3.6 billion to develop renewable projects in Iran," he said.

Referring to the importance of joining hands with international energy majors to implement power plans, Chitchian noted that Switzerland-based firm Durion Energy AG, in collaboration with Germany's Adore GmbH, has developed the Mokran solar complex in Sistan-Baluchestan Province in six months with an investment of $27 million.

According to Mahmoud Dashtbozorg, the managing director of Khuzestan Regional Electricity Company, a German company, namely eab New Energy GmbH, will invest $82 million in a joint venture to build a wind farm in Arvand Free Trade Zone with the help of its Iranian partner, Tose'eh Zist Arvand Investment Company.

The Energy Ministry is keen to make good on a promise to add at least 1,000 megawatts, or 1 GW, to total power generating capacity each year through 2022 with the help of the private sector.