TEHRAN – Iran’s Deputy Energy Minister Homayoun Haeri has said the Islamic Republic is seeking to use Chinese expertise and technology to develop the country’s renewable industry, IRNA reported.

to develop the country’s renewable industry, IRNA reported.

“The plans to use China’s capabilities for the development of renewables has entered a serious stage after the visit of the Minister of Energy to this country,” Haeri said at the opening ceremony of the 24th Iran International Electricity Exhibition (IEE 2024) on Thursday.

“Efforts are underway to develop joint investment with China in the field of renewables, and in this regard, the Energy Minister, who is visiting China, will hold some meetings with the energy officials of this country,” he noted.

Back in September, the head of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture (ICCIMA) Economy Committee Farajollah Memamri urged Chinese investors to participate in the development of advanced solar power plants in the country.

The official said Iran is inviting China to collaborate in various areas, including the construction of large and small-scale solar power plants, the supply of solar panels, and the provision of technical expertise for solar energy projects.

China is rapidly advancing in its energy transition, increasing its renewable energy capacities while remaining dependent on liquefied natural gas to support its growing electricity demand.

China’s energy transition is strengthening, particularly in the wind and solar sectors, according to Yaoyu Zhang, deputy director at PetroChina. At the Asia Gas Markets Conference 2024, organized by S&P Global Commodity Insights, Zhang highlighted the growing contribution of renewable energy in reducing coal dependency for electricity generation in China.

Renewable energies, primarily solar and wind, have enabled a 10 to 13 percent reduction in coal use for electricity production. This trend counters the common belief that China’s declining coal consumption is mainly due to an increase in natural gas usage.

In recent years, China has significantly accelerated the development of its renewable energy production capacities. Zhang noted that the production costs of solar and wind energy have become more competitive than those of natural gas. It is expected that China will reach a combined capacity of 1,300 gigawatts (GW) of wind and solar energy by the end of 2024, surpassing the 1,200 GW target set for 2030.

This trend is part of China’s broader strategy to reduce coal’s share in its energy mix while supporting its pledge for carbon neutrality by 2060. According to Zhang, by 2028, about 50 percent of electricity produced in China will come from renewable sources.

China has dominated recent progress in global green transition, said an opinion article published by The New York Times in mid-September.

"When you look at the world outside of China, those eye-popping global curves flatten out considerably -- green energy is still moving in the right direction, but much more slowly," said the article published at the time.

In the area of solar power, in 2023, the world including China installed 425 gigawatts of new solar power; the world without China installed only 162 gigawatts, said the article. "China accounted for 263 gigawatts; the United States accounted for just 33."

From 2019 to 2023, China grew its amount of new added capacity more than eight times over, and the world without China didn't even double its rate, said the article.

The pattern extends beyond solar. According to one recent estimate, nearly two-thirds of all big solar and wind plants being built globally this year are in China, which is deploying green energy at more than eight times the scale of any other country in the world.

China is also helping power green transitions of other countries, said the article. "In 2022, roughly 90 percent of the solar wafers and solar cells produced in the world were Chinese -- by some measures more than twice as many as the rest of the world was even ready to install."

China is wagering an enormous amount of its future on nascent energy technologies -- and racing well ahead of the global promises it has made about the speed of its own transition.

EF/MA