TEHRAN – Iranian renewable power plants generated 9.189 billion kilowatt-hours (Kwh) of electricity during the first ten months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2022-January 20, 2023), which accounted for five percent of the country's total electricity generation.

Electricity generation from renewables in the said 10 months led to economizing on the consumption of natural gas by 24 million cubic meters while saving 20 million liters of water.

It also prevented the emission of 50,000 tons of Green House Gases (GHG).

Earlier this month, Head of Iran's Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Organization (SATBA) Mahmoud Kamani announced that the capacity of Iran's renewable power plants reached 1,020 megawatts (MW) with the 10-MW Pasargad Solar Farm of Damghan coming into operation

Making the remarks on the sidelines of inaugurating the mentioned solar farms in Damghan County, in central Semnan province, Kamani said: “This power plant has a special feature as it can generate electricity from the reflection of sunlight. This feature makes its generation efficiency higher, which means it will have a 40-percent increase in efficiency”.

“It is hoped that by setting up other renewable power plants, we will soon be able to implement the 10,000-MW renewable power plant program”, the head of SATBA stated.

Iranian Energy Ministry has put it on the agenda to add 10,000 MW to the capacity of the country’s renewable power plants by the end of the current government’s administration (August 2025).

Considering the fact that the country’s renewable power generation capacity stood at about 800 MW when the current government took office in August 2021, the mentioned increase in renewable energy capacity would mean a 13-fold rise.

Back in January 2022, the Energy Ministry and some of the country’s private contractors signed memorandums of understanding (MOU) for cooperation in the construction of new renewable power plants across Iran.

Renewables, including hydropower, account for nearly seven percent of the country’s total energy generation, versus natural gas’ 90 percent share.

MA/MA