Tehran – Head of Nomads Affairs Organization of Iran says 25,000 nomadic households are going to be supplied with photovoltaic power stations (known as PV systems) by the end of the next Iranian calendar year (March 2021).

“This year, 8,000 nomadic households will be supplied with solar panels and next year 17,000 households across the country will receive solar panels from the Energy Ministry,” Karamali Ghandali said.

According to the official, the program was supposed to be implemented four years ago, however, due to some standards-related issues, it was postponed until the current year.

Back in October 2019, the energy ministry announced the implementation of a program for supplying the country’s nomadic households with mobile small-scale power stations.

According to the program’s Executive Director Ali Chehel-Amirani, the plan is set to be completed by the Iranian calendar year of 1400 (starts in March 2021), the portal of the Energy Ministry (known as Paven) reported.

Also in November, Iran’s Planning and Budget Organization (PBO) inked a memorandum of understanding with Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation and the Organization for Mobilization of the Oppressed for construction of 20,000 photovoltaic power stations (known as PV systems) across the country.

According to the Deputy Head of PBO, Hamid Pour-Mohammad, the project was part of a bigger program in which at the first phase 20,000 PV systems would be constructed for rural and nomadic households and in the next phases the number will be raised to 100,000 stations.

Based on the Energy Ministry data, renewables, currently, account for nearly seven percent of the country’s total electricity generation capacity.

Of the country’s total renewable capacity, 44 percent is the share of solar power plants while the share of wind farms stands at 40 percent and small-scalded hydropower plants generate 13 percent of the total renewable capacity.

Overall, in the next five years, Iran is aiming for a 5,000 MW increase in renewable capacity to meet growing domestic demand and expand its presence in the regional electricity market.

EF/MA